Uganda Ready to Pull Troops Out of Somalia If Funding Problems Aren’t Fixed

Uganda’s top military commanders have quietly decided that the country’s long mission in Somalia could end within the next year unless major funding and logistical issues are sorted out. The resolution came at a high-level meeting chaired by President Museveni himself and could mark the beginning of the end for nearly two decades of Ugandan involvement in the Horn of Africa.

Since sending its first soldiers there in 2007, the UPDF has been at the heart of African Union efforts to stabilise Somalia. Ugandan troops helped push al-Shabaab out of key cities, protected government institutions, trained Somali forces and opened routes for aid. Their presence alongside soldiers from Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and others turned the tide in several critical areas.

Yet the cost has been high. Sustaining thousands of troops far from home for so long puts pressure on Uganda’s defence budget and on the families left behind. Funding gaps in the African Union mission have grown, and commanders now feel the strain is no longer sustainable without fresh support.

A full withdrawal would hand greater responsibility to Somali forces and change the balance of peace operations in the region. Somalia’s security situation is still fragile, with al-Shabaab able to launch deadly attacks. For Uganda, pulling out would close one chapter of its international military story while freeing resources for other priorities at home.

The decision also reflects a broader truth many African nations are facing: peacekeeping abroad is noble work, but it cannot continue indefinitely on stretched budgets. Ordinary Ugandans will be watching to see whether partners step up with reliable funding or whether Kampala begins the orderly drawdown that commanders have now put on the table.