Uganda’s Chief of Defence General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has crossed a red line, U.S Senator Jim Risch now says as he rejects a public apology by Kainerugaba.

Describing the apology as “hollow”, Senator Risch, who is the Republican Chairperson of the U.S Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says the U.S must re-evaluate its security partnership with Kampala following controversial social media posts by Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni.

“Commander [Muhoozi Kainerugaba] has crossed a red line and now the U.S. must reevaluate its security partnership, which includes sanctions, and military cooperation with Uganda,” Senator Risch said January 31 in a post on X.

Kainerugaba apologised for his series of posts in which he appeared to attack the U.S Embassy in Uganda of aiding opposition leader Bobi Wine’s escape from his home in Magere, Wakiso District, during a January 16, 2026, night military raid.

These tweets, posted on January 29, 2026 night, stirred more debate on social media, and Kainerugaba was forced to apologised. “I want to apologise to our great friends the United States for my earlier tweets that I have now deleted. I was being fed with wrong information. I have spoken with the US Ambassador to our country and everything is okay. We are going to continue our military cooperation as usual.”

However, Senator Risch is having none of it.

“The president’s son, and likely successor, cannot just delete tweets and issue hollow apologies. The U.S. will not tolerate this level of instability and recklessness when American personnel, U.S. interests, and innocent lives in the region are at stake,” he says.

Earlier calls for sanctions

Last week, Senator Risch had called for sanctions against Museveni’s son, even as Washington re-assesses its security relationship with Kampala following the January 15, 2026 elections.

The Electoral Commission declared President Museveni the winner, granting him a seventh term in office, with his rule now extending beyond 40 years.

But according to Senator Risch, the polls were illegitimate and a hollow exercise staged to legitimise President Museveni’s seventh term and four decades in power.

“Uganda is a key regional security partner to the United States,” Risch said. “Yet, its ruling regime prioritises domestic control through political violence, abductions, imprisonment, intimidation of opponents, and the misuse of state resources to maintain its grip on power.”