Congo's former leader rejects accusations he harboured Islamist rebels

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's former president Joseph Kabila has rejected accusations from neighbouring Uganda that he gave sanctuary to an Islamist rebel group and allowed it to expand and exploit mineral resources.

Kabila led Congo from 2001 to 2019 when he was succeeded by current president Felix Tshisekedi.

Last week, Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni said Kabila had allowed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), to set up large camps and also mine gold and sell timber, among other economic activities.

"The gratuitous false accusations of President Museveni, who is one of the main destabilizers in the region, are simply ridiculous and aim to distract the Congolese people and divide them," Kabila's spokesperson Barbara Nzimbi said in a statement.

Founded in 1996, the ADF was originally a Ugandan rebel group, carrying out attacks around the Rwenzori region in western Uganda.

The insurgents were eventually routed and remnants fled across the border into the jungles of eastern Congo, where they have since been operating.

Fighters from the group frequently carry out killings in Congo both against civilian and military targets and also occasionally carry out attacks in Uganda.

In one of the most grisly attacks, last month, ADF rebels crossed the border into Uganda, stormed a secondary school and massacred 42 people, mostly students. Some were burned alive.

Kabila's government had recognised the ADF as a terrorist organisation and kept the international community including the United Nations well informed "on the abuses perpetrated by the ADF and the need to intervene", Nzimbi said.

"These international organizations rejected this qualification by the Congolese government of the word 'terrorist'. It is long overdue that it is recognised that Joseph Kabila was right and that it was necessary to urgently intervene."

(This story has been corrected to change the attribution throughout to Kabila's spokesperson, not Kabila himself)

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Christina Fincher)