UPDF Troops Begin Withdrawing from Somalia After 20 Years

What the report says

Uganda’s army has begun pulling troops out of Somalia after nearly two decades of deployment, according to SoftPower News. The report says the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) has started a phased withdrawal, with an initial group of 109 soldiers already back in Uganda. The move was announced on Monday, November 2, 2026.

SoftPower News says the first phase applies to soldiers deployed under bilateral arrangements between Uganda and Somalia. The source snippet does not give the full withdrawal schedule or specify how many troops remain in Somalia, but it indicates that the departure will happen gradually rather than all at once.

The development matters because Uganda has been one of the key contributors to security operations in Somalia for years, alongside broader regional and African Union efforts to support stability there. In general terms, such troop rotations and drawdowns can affect counter-insurgency operations, training support and local security coordination, though those wider implications are background context rather than details provided in the report.

The article frames the withdrawal as the end of a long military presence in the Horn of Africa, marking a significant shift in Uganda’s role in Somalia. No further operational details were included in the available excerpt.