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| Africa Horn |
| Uganda begins withdrawing troops from Somalia after 20 years |
| 2026-11-02 |
| [BBC] Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from Somalia after nearly two decades of military involvement in the country. Uganda's acting army spokesperson Chris Magezi on Monday said the first group of troops deployed to Somalia through a bilateral arrangement had already arrived back home and others would follow in a few days' time. He said all forces, including those under the African Union (AU) mission, would exit by the end of 2027 in the phased withdrawal. Uganda was the first African country to deploy troops to Somalia under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), established in 2007 to help protect the country's transitional government from attacks by Islamist militants. A first contingent of 109 Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) troops reportedly left the capital, Mogadishu, on Friday, following an announcement by Uganda's army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Last week, Kainerugaba said Uganda had begun pulling out its troops and would hand over security responsibilities to Somali forces. "As we promised, we have started withdrawing UPDF from Somalia. After 20 years of a lot of blood and sacrifice, we are handing over security to our Somali brothers," he wrote on X. On Monday, Magezi said this would mark the end of Uganda's operations in the Horn of Africa country, with Somalia expected to "assume full responsibility for security". The withdrawal comes after Somalia President Sheikh Mohamud met his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni in Kampala last week. The meeting was planned to discuss Somalia's security situation, as well as trade and economic ties between the two countries. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |