Overview
- Uganda's parliament voted to approve a conditional deployment of Uganda People's Defense Forces to Gaza if required under the international stabilization force proposed by President Donald Trump.
- Defence Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka told lawmakers that Trump emissaries contacted President Yoweri Museveni in July seeking Kampala's contribution and that Museveni is ready to send a contingent.
- Kiwanuka said a status-of-forces agreement would be signed after the parliamentary vote, but key legal and operational details have not yet been finalized.
- The planned International Stabilization Force is part of a broader U.S. ceasefire plan that also calls for a technocratic Palestinian civilian administration, a large aid surge, and Hamas disarmament, but that plan has stalled and the technocrats remain outside Gaza.
- Uganda brings prior peacekeeping experience from missions in Somalia, South Sudan and the DRC, yet the ISF has only a very small presence so far and the timing, size, and placement of any larger deployment remain uncertain, affecting reconstruction and humanitarian access in a devastated Gaza.