Musa Seka Baluku is a Ugandan militant and the current leader of the

Allied Democratic Forces The Allied Democratic Forces (french: Forces démocratiques alliées; abbreviated ADF) is an Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government. It was ori ...

, a rebel insurgent group in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He took over as the commander of the ADF following the 2015 arrest of its former leader,

Jamil Mukulu Jamil Mukulu (born David Steven) is a Ugandan militant leader and suspected war criminal who was the principal founder and former leader of the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of th ...

, in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. Baluku is under sanction by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for terrorist activities.

Biography

Very little is known about Baluku's early life; however it is known that he was born in the

Kasese District Kasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, the town of Kasese is the site of the district headquarters. History In September 2022, the district was hit by deadly landslides. Location Kasese District i ...

. The

believes Baluku was born around 1977. Unlike most ADF commanders, who hail from the Soga tribe, Baluku is part of the Mukonjo tribe. Baluku became a

Salafi jihadist Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...

at an early age, and formerly served as an Imam at the Malakaz mosque in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda. Baluku was one of the earliest members of the

, and served as one of

's chief lieutenants. After the ADF relocated to the

, Mukulu appointed Baluku to numerous positions within the ADF, and he served as the group's chief Islamic judge and handed down punishments to those who violated the group's interpretation of

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

law. Baluku also served as the ADF's "political commissar", and was in charge of teaching the ADF's ideology to new recruits. When Jamil Mukulu was arrested in Tanzania in 2015, Musa Baluku took his place as commander of the ADF and appointed himself "Sheikh". Unlike his predecessor, Baluku has expanded his outreach into social media in order to recruit more followers, and has publicly aligned the ADF with better-known jihadist groups such as the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

and Al-Shabaab. Baluku is a

polygamist Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

, and has taken several wives from both the Congo and Uganda, two of them daughters of Jamil Mukulu. He resided in the ADF's main camp, nicknamed "Camp Medina", until the camp was overrun by the Congolese army in January 2020. As of February, 2020, he is believed to have relocated to "Camp Kajuju" in "Madina II", another ADF camp complex. ADF defectors and ex-combatants have described Baluku as notoriously violent and short-tempered. Baluku has ordered the abduction of children to serve as

child soldiers Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...

and has presided over mass killings of civilians by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

. Baluku has also been known to consolidate his power within the ADF through brutal

intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...

tactics, and has executed suspected dissidents by

beheading Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

. Baluku is believed to have been wounded during a Ugandan military attack on an ADF camp on December 22, 2017. In December, 2019, the United States government imposed sanctions on Baluku and five other ADF leaders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluku, Musa Seka Living people Fugitives wanted by the International Criminal Court People indicted for war crimes People indicted for crimes against humanity People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act Allied Democratic Forces Year of birth missing (living people) People from Kasese District Ugandan Islamic religious leaders Salafi jihadists