Uganda begins phased troop withdrawal from Somalia after nearly 20 years

Uganda has begun withdrawing troops from Somalia after nearly two decades of military involvement, with the first contingent reported to have left Mogadishu on Friday. The move marks the start of a phased drawdown that Uganda says will continue until August 2027. It comes as Somalia continues to face a long-running insurgency by al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked armed group.

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The first group to depart reportedly consisted of 109 troops from the Uganda People's Defence Forces. Uganda's army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said last week that the withdrawal had started and that security responsibilities would be handed over to Somali forces. In a post on X, he said Uganda was "handing over security to our Somali brothers" after "20 years of a lot of blood and sacrifice".

Uganda's acting army spokesperson, Chris Magezi, did not respond to a request for comment. Uganda was the first African country to deploy troops to Somalia in 2007 under the African Union Mission in Somalia, known as Amisom. That mission was created to help protect Somalia's transitional government from attacks by Islamist militants.

Ugandan forces later played a central role in pushing al-Shabab out of Mogadishu and other major towns, and in securing key government installations alongside the Somali National Army. The country continued its military role through later African Union missions, including the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, before the current African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia began in 2025. The withdrawal matters because Uganda has been one of the most important troop contributors to Somalia's security effort for almost 20 years.

Its departure, even if gradual, raises questions about how Somalia and its partners will manage the security transition at a time when al-Shabab remains active. The change also comes as the current African Union mission faces uncertainty over future funding, amid plans to wind down US and UN support. That makes the handover more than a bilateral military decision, because it affects the wider regional security architecture.

Uganda is not ending all of its military involvement in Somalia. The report says troops deployed under a separate bilateral security arrangement will remain in the country, alongside the phased exit from the African Union mission. The total number of foreign troops in Somalia includes an estimated 4,500 under the African Union mission and about 2,000 deployed through bilateral arrangements.

That means the drawdown changes the composition of the foreign presence, rather than removing it entirely. What remains unclear is how quickly the phased withdrawal will proceed on the ground and how Somali forces will absorb the responsibilities being handed over. It is also not clear how the remaining bilateral Ugandan deployment will be structured alongside the wider mission.

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