South Sudan and Uganda have agreed to jointly investigate recent deadly clashes along their shared border, the South Sudanese army announced on Sunday, 10  August 2025, following violent incidents that left six people dead.

Uganda has long been involved in South Sudan, particularly through military support for President Salva Kiir. Since March, Ugandan special forces have been deployed to assist Kiir amid ongoing internal conflicts.

Last month, fighting broke out between Uganda’s People's Defense Forces (UPDF) and South Sudanese soldiers in Central Equatoria state. The cause of the violence remains unclear, with conflicting accounts from both sides. The clashes resulted in the deaths of five South Sudanese security personnel and one Ugandan soldier.

South Sudanese army spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang revealed that Ugandan army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba met with his South Sudanese counterpart to discuss the urgent need to ease tensions along the border.

A joint committee consisting of 14 members, equally representing both armies, will be formed to investigate the precise causes of the clashes in Central Equatoria, Koang said in a statement shared on Facebook.

Kainerugaba, who is also the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his designated successor, arrived in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, on Saturday. He also met with President Kiir to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties and promote regional stability, according to a UPDF statement.

Uganda first sent troops to support Kiir when South Sudan’s civil war erupted in 2013, two years after the country gained independence from Sudan. The conflict, primarily between Kiir and his longtime rival Riek Machar, lasted five years and caused approximately 400,000 deaths before a power-sharing agreement was reached in 2018.

In March this year, Uganda redeployed special forces as President Kiir cracked down again on Machar, eventually placing him under house arrest. This move effectively undermined the power-sharing deal and intensified clashes between government forces and militias loyal to Machar’s ethnic Nuer community.

Reports from local media have accused the Ugandan army of using chemical weapons, specifically barrel bombs containing flammable substances, against Nuer militias in northeastern South Sudan, resulting in civilian casualties. Uganda has strongly denied these allegations.