Uganda: rebel leader charged with killing tourists

The leader of a rebel group in Uganda was charged on Monday with terrorism and murder following the fatal attack on two foreign tourists and their driver by an armed commando in a national park last month.

Abdul Rashid Kyoto, alias Njovu, a leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group, had been arrested in early November during a Ugandan army operation against the commando group accused of killing a British and a South African honeymooner and their guide in Queen Elizabeth Park (west) on October 17.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State (EI) group, to which the ADF rebels have pledged allegiance. Njovu is also blamed by the authorities for a school massacre in June which left 42 people dead, mainly students.

Abdul Rashid Kyoto has been charged with terrorism, murder, aggravated robbery and membership of a terrorist organization as part of the investigation into the attack in the national park, the public prosecutor's office said in a statement on Monday.

According to the prosecutor's office, Njovu was arrested on Lake Edouard, which lies on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Two other members of the commando were killed, while "the others managed to escape by boat".

The army had previously indicated that Njovu was the only survivor of the seven-member commando.

Originally Ugandan rebels with a Muslim majority, the ADF made their home in eastern DRC in the 1990s. In 2019, they pledged allegiance to the EI, which claims responsibility for some of their actions and presents them as its "Central African Province" (Iscap in English).

They are accused of having massacred thousands of civilians in the DRC in recent years and of carrying out jihadist attacks on Ugandan soil.

Following the attack on October 17, President Yoweri Museveni called on the security forces to "annihilate" the ADF rebels. The army subsequently carried out several air raids against its positions in the DRC.

This murder in one of Uganda's most famous parks has sparked fears in the tourism sector, which contributed almost 10% of the country's GDP last year, according to official figures.