Muhoozi apologises, explains reason for ending cooperation with US embassy in Kampala
By Charles Ouma, January 30, 2026Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has apologised to the United States for his earlier statement, in which he announced the suspension of all cooperation between the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) and the United States of America embassy in Kampala.
According to Muhoozi, the earlier statement in which he announced the suspension was because he was being fed wrong information.
He deleted the earlier tweets and released an apology on his X account on Friday, January 30, 2026, adding that he has spoken with the US Ambassador in Uganda and the military cooperation will continue.
Muhoozi’s new statement
He offered unreserved apologies to the United States and confirmed that the tweets have since been deleted, closing the chapter on a reconciliatory tone.
“I want to apologise to our great friends, the United States, for my earlier tweets that I have now deleted. I was being fed wrong information. I have spoken with the US Ambassador to our country, and everything is okay. We are going to continue our military cooperation as usual,” he stated.
What Muhoozi said
The son of Uganda’s long-serving leader caused a stir on X on Friday, January 30, 2026, after releasing a series of statements on the platform.
He accused the US embassy in Kampala of colluding with opposition politician Bobi Wine to stage his kidnapping, claiming that the information was based on intelligence reports.
Muhoozi cited this as the reason for suspending all cooperation between UPDF and the US embassy in Kampala.
“Fellow Ugandans, because of the present situation where an opposition leader kidnapped himself and is missing, and according to our best intelligence, did all this in coordination with the current administration at the US Embassy in our country. We as UPDF suspend ALL cooperation with the current administration at the US Embassy in Kampala. This includes our work in Somalia,” Muhoozi declared.
He further lamented that bureaucrats at the embassy have undermined the precarious security cooperation between the two countries for more than a decade, despite the excellent political relations between Kampala and Washington DC.
“The very precious security co-operation between Uganda and the United States has been undermined for a decade now (since 2015) by unimaginative bureaucrats at the Embassy. This is despite the excellent political relations between the two countries,” he added.
Muhoozi’s threats of sanctions
This came days after Muhoozi, threatened to sanction the US through a post on his X account.
Muhoozi informed those in the US who would sanction him or Uganda that his country would retaliate by imposing similar sanctions on the United States via a statement on X on Sunday, January 25, 2026.
The statement was in response to heavy criticism by United States Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who released a terse statement on Uganda’s recent elections describing it as a “Hollow exercise”.