Within 24 hours, the Ugandan army and the Ugandan embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo issued two press releases refuting allegations of any support from the Ugandan army (UPDF) for the Congolese M23 rebels currently fighting against the Congolese army.
 Ugandan officials were keen to reject the rumours that have been circulating for days in the DRC. According to the Ugandan army—which stated on February 15—the false information is being spread by Jules Mulumba that the UPDF is in Rutsuru.

Jules Mulumba, spokesperson of the Collective of Resistance for the Defense of the People and representative of CMC-FDP—a conglomeration of rebel groups. 

According to the UPDF statement, Mr Mulumba in an attempt to authenticate his desperate claims, uses photos of our force that were part of East African Community Regional Force (EACRF)”. 

“The picture was taken when Uganda’s contingent to the EACRF was in Tsengero general areas on Bunagana – Rutshuru to Goma Axis and not Sake,” said the statement. 

 The East African regional force, of which Ugandan troops were a part, which had been deployed in the DRC at the end of 2022, withdrew from Congolese soil in December 2023.

 At a time when fighting is intensifying in the east of the DRC, mainly in North Kivu, the rumours are insistent. As well as pointing the finger at the Rwandan army, whose support has been backed up several times by UN reports and by the Congolese authorities, several civil society figures are claiming that Uganda is also on the ground supporting the M23. In its press release, the Ugandan army stated that “the UPDF has no reason to be involved in an Internal conflict, except when it is a regional peace effort”. 

 The Ugandan embassy in the DRC states that it “categorically refutes the latest fabricated claims that 5,500 Ugandan soldiers are supporting the M23 rebels in Rutshuru territory in the DRC.

This follows similar accusations in late September 2023 that Uganda had illegally moved the border markers near Busanza. These recurrent and unverified media attacks raise serious concerns about a deliberate pattern of systematic disinformation or information warfare targeting Uganda,” the statement said.

 For Ugandan officials, all these reports are nothing more than a “recurring pattern, a concerted effort to sow discord and undermine positive relations between Uganda and the DRC”, says the statement from the Ugandan embassy in the DRC. “The Ugandan army respects the borders and territorial integrity of the DRC. It only conducts cross-border operations through official channels, with the full knowledge and consent of the Government of the DRC. No such operation has taken place in Rutshuru: consequently, no Ugandan troops are stationed in the areas mentioned”, the press release states.

 The Ugandan army joined forces with the Congolese army in November 2021 to hunt down the Ugandan-born ADF rebels who have been hiding in the forests of Congo’s troubled areas for more than 20 years. These rebels often carry out massacres in the DRC and Uganda.