China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) and Poly Technologies Inc. are the two Chinese military contractors who are supplying the UPDF with materiel it is using to fight alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Forces (FARDC) against the ADF.
Chinese arms being used against ADF
Chinese military contractors working with Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) are playing a central role in DR Congo as the Ugandan forces attempt to defeat the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
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The UPDF launched joint air and artillery strikes against camps of the Congo-based Uganda rebels of the ADF on November 30, this year.
Norinco is a top Chinese arms manufacturer which has been a primary supplier of military equipment to the Chinese army since 1980 and the Ugandan forces since August 13th 1994 when Norinco built Luwero Industries Limited (LIL), an ordnance factory located 135km North of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
Norinco provides tanks, long-range suppression weapons, and air defence among other military equipment. It also supplies weapons and technical support to the Chinese navy, air force, rocket force, strategic support force, and police.
The military arsenal Norinco supplies Uganda includes VN-2C, an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV).
Uganda is the first operator of the VN-2C in Africa.
Poly Technologies Inc., one the other hand, has been working with UPDF for nearly a year.
Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Museveni's son and the Commander of the UPDF’s Land Forces, introduced the group in March this year as he met with four officials from Poly Technologies at the Special Forces Command headquarters in Entebbe.
The Chinese company is supplying the UPDF with CS/VP3 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and other weapons which have reportedly been deployed in the battle against the ADF in DR Congo.
The ADF was founded in Uganda in 1995 and later moved to the DR Congo where it is one of over 200 armed groups seeking control over territory and mineral resources in Eastern DR Congo.
The ADF was blamed for the November 16 suicide bombings in Kampala which killed seven people, including the three bombers, and wounded dozens more.
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