Tracts have also been dropped in North Kivu Province calling on ADF-NALU to disarm.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC army and the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, have issued a riot act to a loose coalition of Ugandan rebels operating in the east of the country to free the 900 captives they are holding and disarm voluntarily.

The ADF-NALU rebels, who originally hail from neighbouring Uganda, seized most of the hostages in the Beni area of North Kivu Province. Radio France Internationale, RFI, reported yesterday, July 30, 2014 that tracts were dropped by helicopter from the North Kivu provincial headquarters, Goma, encouraging them to free the hostages who are being used as human shields against attacks by MONUSCO peacekeepers and the army. The captives are said to include medical doctors and priests. Sources say the offensive launched by the military last January has considerably weakened the rebels, forcing them to retreat closer to the border with Uganda.

The air drop of tracts began last month, with the most recent being on July 28, 2014. Appeals have also been made on local radio stations in the hope that the rebels will heed the calls. In order to facilitate understanding of the message by the rebels, the tracts were translated into several local languages. According to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, TRAC, the Alliance of Democratic Forces, ADF-NALU is a coalition of Islamist sects and local opposition forces opposed to the Ugandan government.

Originally based in Western Uganda, ADF now operates in the border area between eastern DRC and south-western Uganda. The militant group was founded in Uganda in 1989 by Sheikh Jamil Mukulu, a radical Islamist who aimed to overthrow the government of President Yoweri Museveni and replace it with a loosely defined Islamist administration. The group is considered as a terrorist organisation.

By 2002, the Ugandan army successfully forced the rebels to retreat across the border into the DRC. Following Uganda's military withdrawal from the DRC in 2003, the ADF, along with its principle ally, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, NALU, consolidated its position in the area. They then engaged in renewed training and recruitment as well as lucrative illegal mining activities.