The Chief of Defence Forces of the UPDF, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has publicly rebuked a senior U.S. senator, firmly rejecting what he described as demeaning and colonial language from a foreign official.
The General's direct response on social media platform X follows a call by U.S. Senator Jim Risch for sanctions against Uganda and a review of bilateral military cooperation. Senator Risch had stated that General Kainerugaba had "crossed a red line."
In his post, the Chief of Defence Forces was unequivocal: "My name is General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. What 'Red line' have I crossed according to you? You can re-evaluate whatever you want as far as our co-operation is concerned but you will never DEMEAN and DEGRADE us. You will never make us your slaves."
General Kainerugaba has consistently stated that Uganda welcomes mutually beneficial partnerships but will not tolerate foreign intimidation or what he terms "neocolonial tendencies."
This response from General Kainerugaba follows a previous post on X regarding Uganda-U.S. relations. The UPDF leader had publicly acknowledged and corrected an earlier error, stating: "I want to apologise to our great friends the United States for my earlier tweets that I have now deleted. I was being fed with 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."
Meanwhile, the US senator's remarks prompted a strong reaction from many Ugandans, who expressed their displeasure and urged the American politician to instead focus on his own country's pressing domestic.
