KAMPALA, (Reuters) – Uganda will withdraw troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo within two weeks. This was after a joint operation against Islamist rebels that began late last year.

In December, President Yoweri Mugabe’s government deployed hundreds of troops to east Congo to support the Congolese army in an attack on ADF bases.

“Operation Shujaa” will be officially ended in approximately 2 weeks, according to the original agreement, tweeted Muhoozi Kainerugaba (commander of Uganda’s Land Forces), using Shujaa codename which stands for Swahili “hero”.

“It was supposed that it would last 6 months. If I don’t get any further orders from our Commander in Chief or CDF, (chief of defense forces), then I will pull all our troops out of DRC in two weeks,” Kainerugaba added. He is Museveni’s brother.

The largest foreign intervention in Congo since more than a decade was made by Uganda, which sent at least 1,700 troops. This is in addition to a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Although the ADF was originally an uprising in Uganda, it has been located in Congo since late 1990s. In mid-2019, it pledged its allegiance the Islamic State and was accused of frequent raids that killed hundreds of villages over two years.

It was not possible to give any reason for Uganda’s planned withdrawal, or an update about the situation of the operation against ADF.

Uganda blamed the group after a triple suicide attack in Kampala, its capital on Nov. 16 that killed seven people including the bombers.