US Secretary of State Rubio speaks with Museveni, hails Uganda on regional stability

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and thanked the country for providing a model of regional stability, including its valuable contributions to peacekeeping in East Africa.

This is contained in the US Department of State statement issued on August 21, 2025, attributable to principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

Pigott says Rubio thanked Uganda while speaking with President Museveni.

He says the duo discussed opportunities to deepen US-Uganda co-operation on migration, reciprocal trade and commercial ties. 

Deportation agreement

The US government recently signed a bilateral deportation agreement with Uganda to take an unspecified number of African and Asian migrants who had claimed asylum on the US-Mexico border.

Uganda agreed to accept deportees from the US who hail from other countries on the continent, as long as they don’t have criminal histories.

It’s unclear how many deportees Uganda would ultimately accept under this arrangement.

Uganda now joins other countries that have struck a deal with the US government, including Honduras, Eswatini and South Sudan, according to CBS News.

New ways of working together

On July 14, 2025, US Ambassador to Uganda William Popp said they were exploring new ways of continuing to work with Uganda.

“We are looking at different ways to continue to cooperate, including supporting immigration protections, supporting the fight against fraud and working together to ensure security for both countries,” he said.

He made the remarks while briefing journalists in Kampala on the topic of the “US Visa Policy to Deter Illegal Migration” along with other US embassy officials.

“We are working together (with Uganda) in many different areas, including air spaces and fighting fraud,” Popp said, noting that they were able to end the 2025 Ebola outbreak in Uganda a few months ago.

“We continue to work in other areas supporting commercial opportunities and companies doing business in both nations. In May, we had a record number of Ugandan companies looking for business opportunities in the United States, and we have businesses coming here,” he said.

Without giving details of diplomatic conversations, the ambassador stressed: “We talk to our colleagues in the Ugandan government on a daily basis on a whole range of topics.”