Somalia: Uganda begins troop withdrawal, twenty years after being the first to arrive

The Ugandan army announced on Monday, November 2, 2026, that it has begun repatriating its soldiers deployed in Somalia, twenty years after first entering the country. "The first contingent of troops for the phased withdrawal has already returned to Uganda," stated the military communiqué cited by Deutsche Welle, which specifies that Kampala will withdraw all of its forces, including those serving under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), "before the end of 2027."

According to DW, approximately 4,500 Ugandan soldiers are stationed in Somalia under AUSSOM, in addition to some 2,000 men deployed under bilateral agreements. Local media cited by the same source report that an initial group of 109 soldiers left Mogadishu late last week.

The first to arrive, the first to leave

Uganda was the first state to send troops to Somalia in 2007 as part of the African Union peacekeeping force tasked with supporting the Somali government against Al-Shabaab. These soldiers contributed decisively to driving the insurgents out of the capital and several major cities. Twenty years later, the armed group once again controls significant areas in the center and south of the country, having regained ground in recent years, reports DW.

An African mission dependent on external funding

The Ugandan departure comes as the future of AUSSOM is, according to DW, being called into question by a U.S. decision to end funding for a United Nations logistics office upon which the coalition depends. Washington, the mission's primary donor, has expressed frustration over the lack of progress against Al-Shabaab and blames the Somali government for failing to unify the country or carry out its political reforms.

This is the crux of the problem, and it extends beyond Somalia: an operation decided by Africans and conducted by African soldiers, but paid for by external partners, remains at the mercy of budgetary decisions made thousands of kilometers away. African Union member states have been calling for years for predictable funding for their peace operations.

A two-level vacuum

Kampala's announcement came the same week that the UN closed its political mission in Somalia after more than three decades, transferring its responsibilities to the Somali government and UN agencies. Elections are scheduled in Somalia for May 2027, but insecurity and opposition challenges threaten their viability, according to DW.

The question now is who will hold the ground reclaimed at the cost of twenty years of losses, and with what resources.