Not much is known about Musa Seka Baluku, the leader of the Allied Democratic Forces. Baluku took over the reins of the rebel outfit after Jamil Mukulu was arrested in Tanzania in 2015. The group is now affiliated with the Islamic State terrorists. Baluku and his affiliates are being hunted down in the forests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by Ugandan and Congolese forces.

Musa Seka Baluku is the commander of the militant group linked to recent bombings in Kampala. He rose to the position after the arrest of former leader Jamil Mukulu in 2015. Mukulu faces a string of charges and is being held in prison.

According to information gathered, Baluku was born around 1977, and did not have much formal education but attended Islamic studies at a tender age. He was an Imam at Malakaz mosque in Kampala before meeting Jamil Mukulu who inaugurated him into the ADF that had pitched camp in Kasese district.

Upon relocation to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mukulu appointed Baluku to several positions, including serving as the group’s Islamic Judge who handed punishments to those who violated the militant’s interpretation of the Sharia Law.

He also served as the political commissar in charge of teaching the organisation’s ideology to recruits.

After Baluku became ADF commander, he appointed himself Sheikh. To make his leadership different, he publicly aligned ADF with the Islamic state in central African Province, which pays allegiance to the IS of Iraq and Levant.

He first lived in Camp Medina, but when it was overrun by the Congolese army in early 2020, he relocated to Camp Kajuju.

He is described by many defectors as being notoriously violent and short-tempered. They accuse him of ordering the abduction of children to serve as child soldiers and say he has presided over mass killings of civilians by firing squad.

His brutal intimidation tactics have also been expressed through beheading and crucifying his misbehaving subjects.

In December 2019, the government of the United States of America imposed sanctions on Baluku and five other ADF Leaders. He is deputised by Rashid Swaibu Hood Lukwago.