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Uganda's military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, announced that the country had canceled a $3.2 billion railway contract awarded to Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi, intensifying a string of hostile actions and remarks aimed at Türkiye.
Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni and commander of the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF), made the announcement on X on Tuesday, declaring that Uganda would seek another contractor for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.
"We have canceled the contract with the Turkish company to build the SGR. We will get another one that is more worthy of our country!" he wrote.
"ALL road contracts in Kampala from now on will be executed by the UPDF Engineers Brigade as the major contractors! ALL contracts!"
The railway project is one of the largest infrastructure investments in Uganda and among the most significant contracts undertaken by Turkish builders in Africa.
Yapi Merkezi secured the deal in 2024 to construct the 272-kilometer line linking Kampala with the Kenyan border town of Malaba.
The fully electrified route is designed for trains traveling up to 120 kilometers per hour and forms the first phase of Uganda's planned 1,700-kilometer national rail network.
The line is intended to connect landlocked Uganda to Kenya's railway system and ultimately to the Port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. Before turning to Yapi Merkezi, Uganda had terminated a previous agreement with China Harbour Engineering Company in January 2023 after years of delays and limited progress.
In April, the government appointed U.S-based Citibank as lead arranger for syndicated debt financing tied to the project. Authorities also released an initial $83 million funding tranche, allowing Yapi Merkezi to begin preliminary work on the eastern section of the route.
The project's financing model calls for 85% of funding to come from international loans, with the remaining 15% provided by the Ugandan government.
In December 2025, senior representatives of Yapi Merkezi met Ugandan military officials at the Special Forces Command headquarters in Entebbe to discuss progress on the railway project.
No official statement from the Ugandan government confirming the reported cancellation was immediately available, nor had the Turkish company publicly confirmed the claim.
The Ugandan general also called for a demonstration outside Türkiye's embassy in Kampala on June 19 and instructed security agencies to allow supporters and ordinary citizens to gather at the diplomatic mission.
He later announced that the protest had been postponed following a request from a member of parliament.
"We have postponed it. My demands from the Turks are simple. They should IMMEDIATELY hand over (Fred) Lumbuye or expel him from their country. If they don't, we will fight them!" he wrote.
Kainerugaba's latest inflammatory remarks against Türkiye follow months of threats and hostile rhetoric. In April, he demanded $1 billion from Ankara, threatened to cut diplomatic ties and ban Turkish Airlines from Ugandan airspace, and called for the extradition of Ugandan dissident Fred Lumbuye.
He also signaled that he wanted Yapi Merkezi's railway contract scrapped, saying he would discuss the matter with President Yoweri Museveni and arguing that Chinese companies could deliver a better project at a lower cost.
At the time, Omer Celik, spokesperson for Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), dismissed Kainerugaba's remarks.
"We know that this person has made similarly baseless statements about other countries," Celik said. "That statement is wrong and must be corrected. We hope he speaks more carefully from now on."
Kainerugaba later deleted the posts following Celik's response.
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