(Reuters) – A Congolese general expressed “indignation” on Friday about social media comments by Uganda’s military chief that threatened to seize a city in northern Congo, reflecting heightened diplomatic strains as the region spirals deeper into conflict.
The head of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Muhoozi Kainerugaba made the threats last weekend in a series of posts on X about an offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels that has captured east Congo’s two largest cities since January.
The conflict, the biggest in decades in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has raised fears of a wider regional war, with the armies of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi having all participated in the fighting.
Uganda has had thousands of troops in eastern Congo – north of the fighting with M23 – since 2021 to help Congo fight another militia.
But it has also intervened in past wars against Congo’s government and was accused by U.N. experts last year of providing support to M23, allegations it denied.
Rwanda also denies supporting M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and militias hostile to Kigali.
Kainerugaba, who is the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and regularly makes inflammatory social media posts, threatened in one post to take Congo’s fourth-largest city.
“UPDF will not oppose M23’s seizure of Kisangani. But they better move quickly otherwise we will do it ourselves,” he wrote.
Kainerugaba also threatened to arrest the governor of Ituri Province, who he said was resisting UPDF’s operations.
General Jacques Ychaligonza, who is in charge of operations and intelligence for Congo’s military, was asked by reporters about Kainerugaba’s comments after a meeting with a Ugandan counterpart in the city of Bunia.
“If it is true that this is the Ugandan military chief’s account, we have expressed our indignation,” he said. “We told them that we are not at all happy about that.”
Ychaligonza also said there had been an incident earlier this month where Congolese forces had briefly “blocked” Ugandan troops from crossing the border because they had not been informed in advance of their arrival.
UPDF spokesperson Chris Magezi said Ugandan forces had no ill will toward Congo and that the two countries were working together closely.
“The X platform is not an official channel, so people should not take it seriously,” he told Reuters.
In an interview, Congo’s foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, said the joint Congolese-Ugandan operations against the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State affiliate, were going well.
“We are happy … that we have good communication channels with the UPDF that enable us also to react to dynamics on the ground,” she said.
(Reporting by Congo Newsroom and Tim Cocks; Writing by Aaron Ross, Editing by William Maclean)
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