No evidence Uganda's president threatened to 'bomb' US drones in Ugandan airspace after diplomatic spat
IN SHORT: A graphic circulating on social media quotes Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni apparently threatening to "bomb" US drones and telling the US military to leave. But we found no evidence he made such remarks.
In January 2026, US senator Jim Risch called for sanctions against Uganda's army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, possibly for his role in suppressing the opposition.
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Kainerugaba, who is also the president's son, came under criticism after threatening to kill the country's main opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. The threat came after Bobi Wine disputed the 15 January election results, in which incumbent president Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner.
Risch serves as chair of the foreign relations committee in the US senate. Risch's statement appeared to rattle Kainerugaba, who said his country would retaliate. Although he later apologised, Risch rejected it, saying Kainerugaba had "crossed a red line" and calling his apology "hollow".
As the diplomatic spat escalated, a graphic seemingly quoting Museveni threatening US assets and personnel in Uganda went viral.
"Its remaining a few minutes I BOMB the US military MQ-9 drones loitering in Ugandan airspace. A country is interfering with the affairs of another without following any proper protocal. I wont accept this. American military must get out of Uganda immediately," the graphic reads.
The graphic has been posted widely on social media.
But is it authentic, and can the remarks be trusted? We checked.
No evidence
The text on the graphic is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors. It's highly unlikely that such a poorly written statement would come from Museveni.
For example, the statement "Its remaining a few minutes I BOMB the US military MQ-9 drones" should perhaps read "It's only a few minutes before I bomb the US military's MQ-9 drones". The word "protocol" is misspelt, and "wont" is missing an apostrophe.
It is also unlikely that the Ugandan president would make such a statement on public platforms, bypassing the diplomatic channels commonly used to resolve diplomatic standoffs behind closed doors. The statement also appears unusually strong and is unlikely to have been provoked by a social media spat.
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Credible news outlets closely follow Museveni's speeches and report extensively on his remarks regarding domestic and international affairs. If these statements were authentic, they would have attracted widespread media coverage. However, we found no such reports.
All signs point to a false claim that should be disregarded.
