UGANDA’S military reported killing 242 fighters from the Congolese rebel group CODECO during attacks on its army camp in eastern Congo’s Ituri province this week.
Army spokesperson Chris Magezi stated that CODECO militants assaulted a Ugandan military post in Fataki on Wednesday and Thursday, prompting retaliatory strikes that killed 31 rebels initially and 211 the following day. One Ugandan soldier died, and four were injured, he said in a Friday social media post.
CODECO spokesperson, Basa Zukpa Gerson, rejected the claims Saturday, insisting only two of its fighters were lost while alleging higher Ugandan casualties. An unnamed UN source cited conflicting figures, reporting 70 rebel deaths and 12 Ugandan troops killed. Clashes reportedly continued Saturday, per CODECO and a local civil society leader.
The rebel group, which claims to defend Lendu farmers against Hema herders in long-standing land disputes, operates among numerous militias vying for control of land and minerals in eastern Congo. The region faces escalating violence, including advances by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
Uganda deployed troops to Congo in 2021 to combat the Islamic State-linked ADF insurgents. The broader conflict, tied to regional fallout from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and competition for resources like gold, marks eastern Congo’s worst instability since a devastating 1998-2003 war.
Eighteen-Eleven Media