KAMPALA, July 12 (Reuters) – A Ugandan Islamist rebel leader accused of heading a group that has killed hundreds of people has been handed over to Uganda after being extradited from Tanzania, an army spokesman said.
Jamil Mukulu has been described as head of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an organisation accused of a string of attacks in western Uganda and the Ugandan capital Kampala that killed 1,000 people between 1998 and 2000.
“He’s waiting to face justice for his crimes,” Ugandan army military spokesman Paddy Ankunda told Reuters, adding that Mukulu had arrived in Uganda on Friday.
Mukulu, a Ugandan national, was arrested in Tanzania in late April and had previously said he would challenge extradition.
He is also wanted in connection with fighting in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda’s government has said his organisation is linked to Somalia’s al Shabaab militants.
Mukulu has been under U.N. sanctions since 2011, and rights groups say the ADF is responsible for executions, kidnappings, torture and rape and has profited from lucrative cross-border trade in timber and minerals in eastern Congo.
The Congolese army launched a major operation against the ADF last year, saying they had significantly weakened the group, leaving it with as few as 50 fighters.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
