Uganda Plans Coordinated Troop Exit From Eastern DRC

Uganda has said it is ready to begin a coordinated withdrawal of its troops from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a 7sur7 report citing a statement by Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

He said Kampala was prepared to pull back from positions stretching from Lubero to Mahagi in coordination with the Congolese government.

The announcement points to a possible next step in the joint Uganda-DRC military arrangement known as Operation Shujaa, which Ugandan military sources say was launched in November 2021 by the UPDF and FARDC to target the Allied Democratic Forces in eastern Congo.

The operation has focused largely on North Kivu and Ituri, where the ADF has remained active despite repeated military offensives.

Ugandan troops first entered DR Congo under the renewed joint campaign after cross-border security tensions and a series of attacks blamed on the ADF, a background also reflected in contemporaneous reporting on the launch of the operation by Al Jazeera.

While Muhoozi’s statement signals readiness to leave, no timetable or withdrawal mechanism was detailed in the source report, and no matching public confirmation from Kinshasa was visible in the sources reviewed here.