Uganda To Host Inaugural Defence Chiefs’ Summit On Military Operations Other Than War

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Chief of Defence Forces and Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations, will next week host the inaugural Conference of Chiefs of Defence Forces on Military Operations Other Than War.

The four-day meeting runs from 5 to 8 October 2026 at Speke Resort Munyonyo and is organised by the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs and UPDF.

The CDF, Gen Kainerugaba held a final planning meeting with strategic and technical committees at the SFC headquarters in Entebbe.

The conference will bring together defence chiefs from 14 African countries, commanders of peace support missions, representatives of the African Peace and Security Architecture, and executives of regional political and economic communities. Confirmed participants include the African Union, regional standby forces, and several regional economic communities.

The main themes include transnational threats, cyber security and artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial systems, peace support operations, gender mainstreaming, climate change, disaster management, natural resources, military support to civil authorities, maritime and border security, critical infrastructure, disease pandemics, external influence, and legal and ethical accountability.

Uganda’s position reflects its role as host and its experience in peace support operations, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, border security, disaster response and civil-military cooperation.

The summit is expected to adopt a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, with an African-led, preventive and cooperative model that puts human security first.

Uganda’s brief for the conference seeks an African Union-led regional framework for MOOTW. It covers common principles, rules of engagement, training, intelligence sharing, cyber and drone governance, disaster and pandemic response, protection of critical infrastructure, and accountability.