Ugandan army chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba said in a March 25 post on X that Uganda would withdraw its troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Lubero area on April 3. Kainerugaba added in a separate X post that Uganda was ready to fully withdraw its forces from eastern Congo if the governor of Congo's Ituri province, Gen. Johnny Luboya Nkashama, was not removed.

Uganda's current troop deployment in northeastern Congo began in November 2021 through the launch of Operation Shujaa, which targets ISCAP, also known as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF. Uganda expanded its troop deployment in early 2025 amid the Rwanda-backed M23's capture of Congo's Goma and Bukavu. However, Nkashama and his subordinates have restricted the movement of Ugandan forces within Congo in recent weeks, including by requiring Ugandan military units to obtain authorization from Congo's military hierarchy before entering the Congolese military.