In a statement issued on Saturday, June 17, 2023, the UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has come out to condemn the attack that was carried out by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) which left over 35 students dead and eight abducted at Lubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, Kasese district.

“KAMPALA/NEW YORK, 17 JUNE 2023 – “I am outraged by the attack last night on a secondary school in Mpondwe, Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has, according to media reports, left over 40 people dead, mostly students, with others injured or abducted,” the statement read in part.

The statement which was presented by Dr. Mohamed El Munir A. Safieldin (Munir Safieldin), the UNICEF Representative to the Republic of Uganda, Russell said that the attack by the ADF on school children that took place on Friday night, June 16, 2023, was brutal, against humanity and development of the young generation.

“This was a heinous and unconscionable act of violence. An attack on a school and school children in this manner is an assault on the very progress young people have led in Uganda for years,” Russell noted.

She therefore, stated that, UNICEF demands that the abducted children be released with immediate effect. Russell also consoled the affected families and Uganda as a nation.

“UNICEF calls for the immediate release and safe return of all those who have been kidnapped, and extends its sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims and to the nation, as it grapples with this senseless violence,” the statement read.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has also condemned the attack by ADF which he described as cowardly by the rebel group.

“Why not attack the detachment that was only 3 kms away? If they did that, they would be fighters – army to army – the way NRA was and they would not be terrorists,” President Museveni said.

The president revealed that due to the air and artillery strikes plus offensives and pressure mounted on the rebels by the infantry UPDF and FADRC forces in the DRC, the ADF have ran and sought hiding into disarray and are currently in smaller groups.

UPDF through an official statement issued on Saturday, said that the army is pursuing the assailants to have the abducted children rescued. UPDF noted that rebels used students to carry the looted food and headed towards Virunga National Park.The force confirmed that they remain committed to the mandate of protecting the people of Uganda and their property.

Police, however, on Saturday arrested three suspected rebels in Mpondwe. He was got hiding and had blood stains on his body.