KAMPALA — Uganda’s military has announced an immediate suspension of all defense and security cooperation with Turkey, escalating a diplomatic standoff over Ankara’s refusal to extradite a prominent opposition blogger and vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni.
The move comes after repeated clashes between Turkish authorities and Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s army chief and President Museveni’s son, over the extradition of Fred Lumbuye. Kainerugaba is widely regarded as his father’s prospective successor.
Lumbuye, a high-profile political commentator, faces 15 criminal charges in Uganda, including incitement to violence, spreading false information, and computer misuse.
Tensions spilled into the streets on Friday as thousands of demonstrators linked to the Patriotic League of Uganda—a civic and political pressure group led by Kainerugaba—staged protests outside the Turkish Embassy in the capital, Kampala.
“The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has with immediate effect suspended all and any Defence and Military cooperation with the Republic of Turkiye,” military spokesman Chris Magezi declared in an official statement.
Magezi noted that the suspension will remain active “until outstanding issues of mutual defence and military cooperation between the two countries are resolved,” though he declined to elaborate further.
Gen. Kainerugaba later amplified the announcement by reposting the statement on social media platform X.
The freeze marks a sharp turn in bilateral relations, which have featured close defense partnerships for nearly a decade spanning military training, arms and surveillance procurement, technology transfers, and joint counter-terrorism initiatives.
This military rupture follows recent threats from Ugandan officials to cancel a major $3 billion railway contract with Turkish construction firm Yapi Merkezi and to deport Turkish nationals residing in the country.
