UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the attack on a school in Uganda that killed dozens. Guterres also demanded the immediate release of the kidnapped children, a UN spokesman said in New York. Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice.
According to the government, at least 42 students were killed in the attack on the school in the border town of Mpondwe in the southwest of the country on Saturday night. Eight other children were seriously injured. A regional government official also spoke of 15 kidnapped children. The police blamed rebels from the Islamist militia ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
For years there have been repeated bloody attacks by the ADF and other Congolese militias in the border areas between the two East African countries. The ADF is said to have ties to the Central African offshoot of the Islamist terrorist militia Islamic State. The group’s worst attack happened in 1998, when terrorists killed 80 students in a raid on a university in the border region.
According to their own statements, the group fights for the rights of Muslims in Uganda, who are pushed to the fringes of society by the government. The aim of the group is to overthrow the government. The victims of the attacks, however, are mostly civilians.
