Defense chiefs and military commanders from across Africa gathered in Kampala for a four-day conference focused on Military Operations Other Than War, with senior Ugandan commanders urging a shift toward intelligence-led strategies to counter non-traditional security threats including terrorism, cyber warfare, and climate crises.
Military forces across Africa face a shifting security landscape where traditional state-centric conflicts share space with complex transnational threats. To address this evolving environment, defence leaders, regional security executives, and peace support commanders converged at the Speke Resort Munyonyo in Uganda’s capital for the inaugural African Chiefs of Defence Forces Conference on Military Operations Other Than War.
Organized by the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs and the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, the four-day meeting runs from October 5 to 8, 2026. The diplomatic community, regional bodies, and delegations from more than 18 countries are participating in the discussions hosted by Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba serves as the Chief of Defence Forces and Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations. Ahead of the event, he held a final planning meeting with the strategic and technical committees at the Special Forces Command headquarters in Entebbe. The opening session of the summit was attended by the UPDF Chief of Joint Staff, Lt Gen Jack Bakasumba, General Officers, delegates from various African countries, representatives of the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, Regional Mechanisms, and other delegates.
Lt Gen Sam Okiding Calls for Enhanced Intelligence-Led Operations
Opening the Chiefs of Defence Intelligence and Security meeting, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Lt Gen Sam Okiding argued that modern armed forces must look beyond conventional combat readiness. He told delegates that actionable intelligence remains the cornerstone for executing both kinetic and non-kinetic operations effectively against irregular migration, humanitarian emergencies, and organized crime according to conference proceedings.
Military operations in the world are no longer secondary.
Lt Gen Sam Okiding, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces
Lt Gen Okiding emphasized that modern intelligence fusion requires combining human intelligence with signals intelligence, open-source data analytics, cyber capabilities, and artificial intelligence as outlined during the security sessions. He urged participating nations to modernize equipment, review training frameworks, and treat resilience as an ongoing commitment rather than a temporary fix.
We must elevate our strategy, redefine our training and modernise our equipment properly. We must fundamentally shift our mindset.
Lt Gen Sam Okiding, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces
African Nations Must Synchronize Operating Procedures and Procurement
Addressing technical discussions at the venue, Chief of Joint Staff Lt Gen Jack Bakasumba noted that armed forces frequently operate under systemic constraints such as limited specialized equipment, inadequate training, and fragmented early-warning systems in the view of military planners. He stressed that African nations must synchronize their standard operating procedures and streamline procurement.
It is our regional cooperation that must be enhanced.
Lt Gen Jack Bakasumba, Chief of Joint Staff of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces
The conference agenda spans a broad matrix of non-traditional security topics, including cybersecurity, unmanned aerial systems, maritime and border security, disaster response, disease pandemics, and climate change as detailed by the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs. Representatives from major continental organizations—including the African Union Peace and Security Architecture, the East African Standby Force, IGAD, NARC, and ECOWAS—are taking part alongside force commanders from peace support missions such as AUSSOM, MONUSCO, UNISFA, and UNMISS.
Uganda Seeks Concrete Outputs to Bolster Continental Security
Ahead of the formal opening, Major General Richard Otto briefed the Diplomatic Corps in Mbuya, explaining that Uganda initiated the gathering as an exercise in institutional introspection to address shifting strategic environments. Organizers intend for the summit to produce concrete outputs rather than temporary policy dialogue.
Delegates are tasked with translating resolutions into deployable capabilities, joint communication architectures, and standardized training doctrines aimed at bolstering collective continental security.
