Uganda’s army has stormed into Mahagi town in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), seizing control in a fresh push against the bloodthirsty Codeco militia. “Our troops have entered Mahagi and we are in charge,” Uganda’s military spokesman Felix Kulayigye told AFP on Sunday, confirming the deployment came at the Congolese army’s plea after Codeco’s latest civilian massacres.
The move follows a brutal February 10 attack in Ituri province, where Codeco—claiming to champion the Lendu farming community against Hema herders—slaughtered at least 51 people, humanitarian sources say. Uganda’s not new to this fight; thousands of its troops already hold sway in Ituri, including the provincial capital Bunia, snatched last month under a pact with Kinshasa. But this escalation has tongues wagging—could East Africa be sliding into another regional war?
Ituri sits just north of North and South Kivu, now strongholds of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels since January. With Uganda and Rwanda flexing muscle in eastern DRC, whispers of the Second Congo War (1998-2003)—a horror show that killed millions—grow louder. Analysts warn Kampala and Kigali’s deepening footprints could spark a deadly rerun, dragging in more African nations.
Codeco’s reign of terror, marked by village raids and ethnic butchery, has left Ituri a graveyard of shattered lives. Uganda says it’s here to stop the bleeding, but critics smell opportunism—gold and minerals lurk beneath Congo’s soil, and regional powers have a history of eyeing them. As tensions simmer, the DRC’s fragile east teeters on a knife-edge, with civilians caught in the crossfire. Will Uganda’s gambit bring peace—or light the fuse for a bigger explosion?
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