Musa Seka Baluku (born 1977) is a Ugandan militant and current leader of the

Allied Democratic Forces The Allied Democratic Forces (; abbreviated ADF) is a Ugandan Islamist rebel group based in western Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government and the United States. ...

, a rebel insurgent group in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, now largely a part of

Islamic State – Central Africa Province The Islamic State – Central Africa Province (abbreviated IS-CAP, also known as Central Africa Wilayah and Wilayat Wasat Ifriqiya) is an Territory of the Islamic State, administrative division of the Islamic State (IS), a Salafi jihadism, Salafi ...

. 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 the ...

, in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Baluku is under sanction by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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, it is named after its chief town and district headquarters, the town of Kasese. History In September 2022, the district was hit by deadly landslides. Location ...

. The

believes Baluku was born around 1977. Unlike most ADF commanders, who hail from the

Baganda The Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officially recognised), th ...

and Soga tribe, Baluku is part of the Mukonjo tribe. Baluku became a Salafi jihadist at an early age, and formerly served as an Imam at the Malakaz mosque in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

, 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, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

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 The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

and Al-Shabaab. Baluku is a

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

, 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 in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

and has presided over mass killings of civilians by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

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

intimidation Intimidation is a behaviour and legal wrong which usually involves deterring or coercing an individual by threat of violence. It is in various jurisdictions a crime and a civil wrong (tort). Intimidation is similar to menacing, coercion, terro ...

tactics, and has executed suspected dissidents by beheading or

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluku, Musa Seka Living people 1977 births People indicted for war crimes People indicted for crimes against humanity People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act Allied Democratic Forces People from Kasese District Ugandan Islamic religious leaders Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Leaders of jihadist groups