Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has accepted an official invitation from Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to visit Mogadishu.
The visit dates will be set through diplomatic channels, according to a statement obtained by Mareeg Online.
The invitation is part of efforts to strengthen the growing ties between Somalia and Uganda.
This follows President Mohamud’s one-day visit to Kampala, which concluded with the issuance of a joint communiqué.
In Kampala, both leaders discussed the security situation in Somalia and the need to maintain peace, security, and stability in the Horn of Africa.
They also welcomed the new AU peace mission – AUSSOM – in Somalia and called for ensuring sustainable funding for the mission.
Somalia and Uganda urged the international community to support building capabilities for AUSSOM’s smooth exit and Somalia’s security transition.
They stressed the Troop Contributing Countries summit on April 25, 2025, and the need for cooperation to combat terrorism in Somalia.
Uganda has now contributed 4,500 soldiers to the new AUSSOM, which replaced ATMIS in January 2024.
Ugandan troops have been in Somalia since 2007, fighting Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group.
Since 2007, Uganda has lost hundreds of soldiers in dawn attacks on their camps, ambush raids, and IED blasts by Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, Al Shabab continues to carry out deadly attacks in the capital and elsewhere.
For over a decade, the militant group has fought to impose a hardline interpretation of Sharia law in Somalia.
Al-Shabab still controls large swaths of southern and central Somalia..
