Somalia: the two stages of Uganda’s announced military withdrawal
· BehindLines newsroom
In his 2 November announcement, military spokesperson Chris Magezi set out two stages for withdrawing Uganda’s military forces from Somalia, with a complete departure planned by the end of 2027. The timetable separates troops deployed under an agreement with Mogadishu from those serving in the African Union mission.
According to the 2 November statement reported by Uganda’s New Vision newspaper, an initial group had already returned to Uganda. The army then expected soldiers serving under the bilateral agreement to finish leaving within days. That near-term deadline therefore applies to one category of troops, rather than every Ugandan soldier in Somalia.
The timetable for the others is longer. The army plans a gradual departure that also includes personnel serving in AUSSOM, the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission, deployed in Somalia. The end of 2027 is the announced deadline for this Ugandan withdrawal. It is a plan, rather than confirmation that the withdrawal has already been completed.
The distinction helps explain headlines describing a departure after almost twenty years. Uganda’s involvement began in 2007, within an African mission intended to support Somalia’s government against al-Shabab insurgents. Several arrangements have succeeded one another since then. The announcement combines the approaching end of a bilateral deployment with a more gradual exit from the African framework.
Handing security responsibilities to Somali forces is the objective put forward by Uganda’s army. That objective alone does not demonstrate that the transfer is complete or that the risks have disappeared.
What matters next is how these two timetables are carried out. The reported return of an initial contingent says neither how many departures remain to be arranged nor what will happen to forces contributed by other countries.