Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Cooperation, Oryem Henry Okello, has disparaged a report by the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, whose investigation found that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Air Force conducted aerial bombardment across South Sudan last year.
Speaking to one of Uganda’s leading TV stations, NTV, the minister rubbished the UN report as “hogwash and lies.”
“Why should Uganda get involved in the killing of civilians, yet UPDF is the very army that has brought peace and stability in the region, from South Sudan to Somalia to the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)?” he asked, adding: “We are the one army that is known to be involved in ensuring that there is peace, stability, and security in the region. And now the UN is accusing us of killing civilians. I think this is just hogwash and lies.”
The report, released last month, says the UPDF helped President Salva Kiir’s government carry out aerial strikes that killed and badly burned civilians in opposition areas.
According to the UN, joint aerial bombardments by the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and UPDF “targeted civilian-populated areas predominantly affecting Nuer communities in opposition-affiliated areas.”
The Ugandan troops were deployed in South Sudan in early March 2025 to help the SSPDF fight against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), led by the now-incarcerated First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, who was suspended and is now battling criminal charges in a special court.
At the time, UPDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Felix Kulayigye said they are in South Sudan at the invitation of Kiir’s government, and as per a bilateral security agreement.
Things came to a head in March 2025 after tense civil-military relations in Nasir Town in Upper Nile State’s Nasir County erupted into a fight between local armed Nuer youth known as the White Army and the SSPDF. The incident involved the overrunning of the SSPDF garrison by the White Army, leading to a bloody, failed UN-led evacuation on 7 March that killed the local SSPDF commander, Gen. David Majur, and dozens of soldiers. This violent event, which also claimed a UN crew member, significantly escalated tensions, jeopardized the 2018 peace deal, and prompted accusations of war crimes.
While Machar is currently on trial for offenses related to the incident, including treason, fighting has intensified in areas seen as his strongholds, where government troops are trying to disperse the rebels.
The attacks cited in the U.N. report involved widespread use of improvised incendiary devices.
Witnesses told the U.N. commission that during one attack in March 2025 in Wunaliet, 15 kilometers outside Juba, homesteads were set ablaze after planes dropped “barrels of liquid that ignited.” Survivors said they saw “civilians set alight, including a boy burnt beyond recognition.” A barracks, housing opposition soldiers, was also struck, the report said.
A day after the attack, UPDF Chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni, posted on X that Uganda had bombed opposition forces in South Sudan.
“Our air offensive will not stop until Riek Machar makes peace with my uncle Afande Salva,” he wrote. He later deleted the post, which had a video of fiery explosions captured from a flying aircraft.
The report says there appeared to be “high degrees of planning, operational integration, and command-level authorization.”
In November 2025, Uganda denied participating in any combat operations in South Sudan. It has also denied using “chemical weapons and barrel bombs” and said it does not attack civilians.
Minister Oryem said some elements within the UN might be against Uganda, but that they would investigate the matter and respond.
“The UN is such a big institution, but within it, there are individuals who, of course, might not favor Uganda or think Uganda should be maligned, and I think this is what it is,” he stated. “Nevertheless, we are going to investigate this matter thoroughly, and we are going to respond to the UN Human Rights Report.
Last year, Amnesty International said that Uganda had violated a 2018 U.N. arms embargo that prohibits member states from providing most forms of military assistance to South Sudan, including weapons and personnel, a position repeated by the U.N. panel of experts on South Sudan in November 2025.