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    ‘Tell Us if He’s Dead’: Abductions and Torture Rattle Uganda

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    Hundreds have been detained, many brutalized, after a bloody, contested election. The government of Yoweri Museveni appears intent on breaking the back of the opposition.KAMPALA, Uganda — Armed men in white minivans without license plates picked up people off the streets or from their homes.Those snatched were taken to prisons, police stations and military barracks where they say they were hooded, drugged and beaten — some left to stand in cellars filled with water up to their chests.The fear is still so palpable in the capital, Kampala, that many others have gone into hiding or left the country.Three months after Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, won a sixth five-year term in office in the most fiercely contested election in years, his government appears to be intent on breaking the back of the political opposition. The president of Uganda, a strategically located country in East Africa, is a longtime U.S. military ally and major recipient of American aid.His principal challenger, Bobi Wine, a magnetic musician-turned-lawmaker who galvanized youthful crowds of supporters, is now largely confined to his house in Kampala. Mr. Wine’s party said on Friday that 623 members, supporters and elected officials have been seized from the streets and arrested in recent weeks, many of them tortured.The musician-turned-oppostion politician Bobi Wine is now largely confined to his home, his party members and supporters arrested.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesFor many Ugandans, the enforced disappearances suggest a slide toward the repressive policies of dictators such as Idi Amin and Milton Obote — who was ousted by Mr. Museveni. Ugandans now say they worry that President Museveni, after 35 years in power, is adopting some of the harsh tactics used by the autocrats he railed against decades ago.“I didn’t know if I was going to make it out dead or alive,” said Cyrus Sambwa Kasato, his eyes darting as he spoke, his hand tugging at the rosary around his neck. A district councilor with Mr. Wine’s opposition party, he said he was held at military intelligence headquarters, his hands chained to the ceiling, whipped by several men at once.President Museveni has acknowledged arresting 242 people, branding them “terrorists” and “lawbreakers,” and admitted that an elite commando unit had “killed a few.” But he denied that his government was disappearing its own citizens.Cyrus Sambwa Kasato, a district councilor with the opposition party,  said he was held at military intelligence headquarters, chained to the ceiling and whipped.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesA military spokesman, Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki, said in an email, “Terrorism has changed the modus operandi of some security operations across the world.”He defended the use of the unmarked white vans, saying that using “unidentifiable means of transport” was not unique to Uganda and that other countries — including the United States and Britain — have deployed similar methods to deal with “hard-core criminals.” He added that military officers are well trained in upholding human rights.The detentions and disappearances, in Uganda’s central region and elsewhere in the country, have targeted both young and middle-aged men and women.Some of those detained say they had collected evidence of vote tampering to present to the Supreme Court to challenge the official election results — which gave Mr. Museveni 59 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Mr. Wine. Mr. Wine has since dropped his challenge.Many of those who agreed to be interviewed were initially afraid to meet, fearing that journalists were actually government operatives. They asked to meet in public spaces or in party offices. Most did not want their names used for fear of retribution.They said uniformed soldiers or plainclothes gunmen whisked them away in unmarked minivans, known as “drones,” and shuffled them between prisons, police stations and military barracks — making it hard for their families and lawyers to find them.Campaign billboards for President Museveni, who was elected to his sixth five-year term.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesThey were ordered to turn over evidence of vote-rigging, accused of orchestrating violence and participating in an American plot to start a “revolution.” Mr. Museveni has claimed that the opposition was receiving support from “outsiders” and “homosexuals” who don’t like the “stability of Uganda.”Some said they were charged in a military court with possessing “military stores,” including the red berets worn by supporters of Mr. Wine, which the government banned in 2019.David Musiri, a member of Mr. Wine’s National Unity Platform Party, said he was shopping at a supermarket in Kampala on Jan. 18 when six gunmen in plainclothes assaulted him and injected him twice with a substance that made him lose consciousness.Mr. Musiri, 30, said he was placed in solitary confinement with his hands and feet tied together. Like most of those arrested, he said that his jailers interrogated him about what they called “Plan B” — Mr. Wine’s postelection strategy.Soldiers made him listen to recordings of his own phone calls with party officials, and kicked and hit him so much that he started urinating blood, he said. When he was released four days later, he couldn’t walk.“We are the very people funding the dictator to do this to us,” he said.David Musiri, a member of the opposition party, said soldiers beat him so badly he couldn’t walk, and interrogated him about a suspected “Plan B.”Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesMr. Kasato, the district councilor, said that plainclothes officers picked him up from a church meeting on Feb. 8, threw him, hooded, into a car and clobbered him.He said the men asked him for the evidence of election rigging he’d collected, and whether he had sent it to Mr. Wine’s party. He said, yes, he had.Mr. Kasato, a 47-year-old father of 11, said that while he was chained to the ceiling, his feet barely touching the ground, military officers whipped him with a wire and pulled at his skin with pliers. “It was a big shock,” he said. “I was praying deeply that I really survive that torture.”In late February, Mr. Kasato was charged with inciting violence during the November protests in which security forces killed dozens of people — accusations he denies. He has been released on bail, but said he was still in intense physical pain, and that his doctors advised he seek medical attention abroad.Analysts say that Mr. Museveni, 76, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, is trying to avoid history repeating itself. He himself was a charismatic young upstart who accused his predecessor, Mr. Obote, of rigging an election, and led an armed rebellion that after five years managed to take power.Mr. Wine, 39, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has become the face of this young movement, promising to shake up the country’s stifled politics. As his campaign gained ground last year, he was arrested and beaten and placed under de facto house arrest.“We are seeing a movement toward full totalitarianism in this country,” said Nicholas Opiyo, a leading human rights lawyer. He was abducted last December and released, charged with money laundering after his legal advocacy group received a grant from American Jewish World Service, a New York-based nonprofit.“I have never felt as restricted and constrained as I am today,” said Nicholas Opiyo, a human rights lawyer, who was detained.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesAfter years of working to defend civil liberties in Uganda, Mr. Opiyo said, “I have never felt as restricted and constrained as I am today,” adding, “It feels like the noose is tightening on our neck.”Authorities have started releasing some of those forcibly disappeared following weeks of public outcry.On a March morning in Kyotera, a town 110 miles southwest of the Ugandan capital, news spread that 18 of the 19 local people who went missing had been returned.One was Lukyamuzi Kiwanuka Yuda, a 30-year-old trader who was taken from his home on the night of Jan. 8. Mr. Yuda said that 15 to 20 men in black counterterrorism police uniforms broke down his door, beat him and asked whether he was training “the rebels.”Lukyamuzi Kiwanuka Yuda, embraced by friends upon his release, said he was detained for more than 70 days in a hood and shackles.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York TimesFor more than 70 days, he said, he and others detained with him remained hooded and shackled, allowed to lift their hoods only up to their lips when eating their one meal a day.“We would count the days based on when the meal for the day arrived,” he said, while continuously gazing at the sky. When asked why he kept looking up, he said, “I miss the sun.”In the hours after the reunion, neighbors and local officials gathered, cheering, ululating and hugging the returnees. A tent was pitched, and soon families arrived dressed in their best as a pastor delivered a prayer of thanks.But one resident quietly slipped out.After rushing over, Jane Kyomugisha did not find her brother among those released. Her brother, who is 28, had run in the local council election as an independent. He was taken away on Jan. 19 and has not been seen since. Ms. Kyomugisha said she has asked about him at numerous police stations, but in vain.“I feel a lot of pain that others have come back and my brother is not here,” she said in an interview at her convenience store in town. With each passing day, she feels more hopeless.“They should tell us if he’s dead,” she said. “Give us back the body and let our hope end there.”Jane Kyomugisha said that her brother, who ran as an independent in a local council election, was abducted in January and has not been seen since.Esther Ruth Mbabazi for The New York Times More

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      Museveni Faces a More Critical U.S. and E.U. After Ugandan Election

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe West’s Patience With Uganda’s Strongman Wanes After a Bloody ElectionThe United States is considering action against the government of President Yoweri Museveni, a longtime ally who has crushed dissent at home. The European Union has also expressed concern.Supporters waiting for the arrival of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda this week in Kampala, the capital.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 30, 2021, 9:31 a.m. ETNAIROBI, Kenya — A bloody and contentious election season in Uganda, in which dozens of people were killed and the principal opposition candidate was placed under de facto house arrest, recently gave a sixth five-year term to President Yoweri Museveni, a staunch U.S. military ally.But now the U.S. State Department says it is considering a range of actions against Mr. Museveni, who, since taking office in 1986, has been among Africa’s leading beneficiaries of American aid, taking in billions of dollars even as he tightened his iron grip on the nation.Mr. Museveni, 76, has suppressed opposing voices for years, often by force, and the campaign leading to this month’s election was marred by the intimidation of opposition candidates and their staffs, particularly Bobi Wine, a pop-star-turned-lawmaker who rose to become the president’s toughest challenger. Violence convulsed the country during the campaign, and election observers and opposition figures contend that electoral fraud contributed to Mr. Museveni’s re-election.“We have significant concerns about Uganda’s recent elections,” a State Department representative said in a statement emailed to The New York Times. “The United States has made clear that we would consider a range of targeted options, including the imposition of visa restrictions, for Ugandan individuals found to be responsible for election-related violence or undermining the democratic process.”The “conduct of the Ugandan authorities during those elections,” the statement read, “is one factor that will be considered as we make determinations on future U.S. assistance.”Mr. Museveni, right, has suppressed opposing voices for years, often by force.Credit…Luke Dray/Getty ImagesOther nations have also voiced concern over how the postelection period in Uganda has unfolded. A spokesperson for the European Union said the bloc was “gravely concerned by the continued harassment of political actors and parts of civil society” and continued to “remain attentive to the situation on the ground.”Mr. Museveni has reportedly been meeting with foreign diplomats in recent days, as concerns mounted about the conduct of the vote, and many Western and African partners have yet to formally congratulate him. The Kenyan presidency deleted a Facebook post congratulating him after it was widely criticized and Facebook erroneously flagged it as containing “false” information.Before, during and after the vote, journalists and independent observers were kept from closely watching the proceedings, and the government refused accreditation to most of the observers the U.S. mission in Uganda had intended to deploy. A nationwide internet shutdown restricted the flow of information.As the election results trickled in, the authorities surrounded Mr. Wine’s home, refused to let him out and even prevented the U.S. ambassador from paying him a visit. Security officers withdrew from his home this week after a court ruling, but they continue to maintain roadblocks nearby, and they surround his party’s headquarters. Mr. Wine, 38, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, maintains that the election was rigged in Mr. Museveni’s favor and plans to present evidence in court on Monday challenging the results.For decades, Mr. Museveni has received financial and diplomatic support from the United States and other Western nations. And he has promoted his regime as a guarantor of stability not just in Uganda — which was torn by coups and violence before he took the helm — but also in the surrounding regions of East and Central Africa.Yet under him, Uganda has repeatedly sent troops across its borders to take sides in conflicts in neighboring countries. And although Mr. Museveni welcomed many refugees from South Sudan, independent researchers have reported that his government clandestinely supplied weapons used to stoke the war there that cost the lives of nearly 400,000 people.The opposition leader Bobi Wine speaking with reporters this week at his home, where he has been held under house arrest.Credit…Nicholas Bamulanzeki/Associated Press“He’s been the region’s pyromaniac since he came to power, whether we are talking about Sudan, South Sudan or Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Helen Epstein, the author of “Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda and the War on Terror.” “His army has intervened everywhere, to the detriment of peace.”Every year, the United States alone provides more than $970 million to Uganda, supporting the military, the education and agricultural sectors, and antiretroviral treatment for almost a million H.I.V.-positive Ugandans.Uganda has in turn partnered with the United States in working to quell terrorism, deploying more than 6,200 troops to the African Union mission in Somalia that is battling the Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab. Thousands of Ugandans have served as guards on American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Uganda has been lauded as one of the best places to be a refugee, with those seeking asylum given land and the ability to work and move around.But as Mr. Museveni continued to curry favor with the West and receive support from financial institutions like the World Bank, his government “has taken advantage of these resources and positive images to undermine the very interests it is lauded for safeguarding and to pursue its own agenda instead,” said Michael Mutyaba, an independent researcher on Ugandan politics.At home, Mr. Museveni has been criticized for clamping down on the opposition, introducing anti-gay legislation and unleashing the security forces on civilians. Waves of scandals have also shown how officials embezzled millions of dollars in government funds, along with reports of development aid being diverted to the military.Police officers at a checkpoint on a street outside Mr. Wine’s home in the days after the election.Credit…Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn 2005, he engineered the repeal of term limits so that he could remain in power. In 2018, he signed a law that scrapped the presidential age limit of 75.Observers like Ms. Epstein say the violence around the election, and the clampdown on opposition figures like Mr. Wine — including by dragging him out of his vehicle while he talked with reporters on live video — drew global condemnation and might tip things this time round.Before and after the Jan. 14 election, Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Chris Coons of Delaware; Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser; a group of donor nations, including Canada and members of the European Union; and United Nations experts all denounced the government’s conduct.“I think finally people are beginning to wake up” to the reality of Mr. Museveni’s Uganda, Ms. Epstein said.If so, that would undermine the standing Mr. Museveni has cultivated as an elder statesman in East Africa, said Angelo Izama, a Ugandan political analyst.“If he continues taking these body blows to his reputation at home,” Mr. Izama said, “I think he’s going to lose his standing not only in the region but also gradually lose the Western powers who are increasingly determined to align and change their tack on how they deal with Uganda.”Supporters of Mr. Museveni celebrating in Kampala this month after he secured a sixth term in office.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBut Ken O. Opalo, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said that while donor relations with Uganda might change, it remains to be seen whether these changes will be substantial.Western countries, he said, have almost always erred on the side of maintaining their relationships with Mr. Museveni’s government instead of pushing him to bring in much-needed reforms.“Museveni knows this fickleness and has exploited it masterfully over the years,” Mr. Opalo said.And while the “Biden administration will say the right things,” Mr. Opalo said he was “less optimistic about what it will be able to do, and whether such action would necessarily lead to change for the better in Uganda.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Uganda Forces Surround Home of Opposition Leader Bobi Wine

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyUgandan Forces Surround Home of Leading Opposition FigureOne day after the election, Bobi Wine, the top rival to the incumbent president, sounded an alert from his home, saying, “We are under siege.”Bobi Wine, the country’s leading opposition presidential candidate, said that Ugandan military forces were “targeting” his life after they surrounded and breached his compound on Friday, a day after the general election.CreditCredit…Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 15, 2021Updated 2:59 p.m. ETNAIROBI, Kenya — Ugandan security forces on Friday surrounded and then breached the compound of Bobi Wine, the country’s leading opposition candidate, a day after a contentious general election that he said was marred by widespread “fraud and violence.”The breach, reported by Mr. Wine and confirmed by several people involved in his campaign, took place as the country’s electoral commission released partial results of the general election that showed the incumbent president, Yoweri Museveni, in the lead. Mr. Wine’s lawyer said the siege effectively constituted house arrest.Mr. Wine, 38, was the most potent challenger to Mr. Museveni, a 76-year-old who has ruled the country for 35 years. The tense election campaign was marked by a crackdown on opposition figures like Mr. Wine and others, which sparked nationwide protests that were put down by police and resulted in the killing of more than 50 people. An internet shutdown that started just before Election Day is still in place.With ballots from almost half of the country’s polling stations counted, preliminary results show Mr. Museveni with more than 62 percent of the vote and Mr. Wine with 29 percent, according to the country’s electoral commission.On Friday afternoon, Mr. Wine said that forces with the Ugandan military along with plainclothes officers carrying guns broke into his compound in the capital, Kampala.“We are under siege,” Mr. Wine, a musician-turned lawmaker whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said in a post on Twitter. “The military has jumped over the fence and has now taken control of our home.”“None of these military intruders is talking to us,” he added in another tweet. “We are in serious trouble.”Spokesmen for the government and the Kampala police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The news of the break-in was confirmed by Jeffrey Smith, founder of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit based in Washington that has worked with Mr. Wine for three years.Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, walking outside his home in Magere on Friday.Credit…Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn an interview, Mr. Smith said he got a call from Mr. Wine after 4:30 p.m. Kampala time during which he heard “lots of shouting and banging.” During the call, which lasted five minutes, Mr. Wine told him that security officers had assaulted some of his staff members and arrested a gardener, Mr. Smith said.Bruce Afran, Mr. Wine’s lawyer, later said that by surrounding his home, the government was placing him “under house arrest.”“The military are registering anyone who enters his house and inspecting vehicles as they leave to be sure he is not inside and leaving the property,” he said in an interview.Mr. Wine has had numerous confrontations with security forces, even before he filed his candidacy for president last November.In 2018, Mr. Wine was arrested and beaten by security forces and left for the United States to seek medical treatment. On the campaign trail, Mr. Wine was arrested and charged with breaching coronavirus rules and was pulled out of his car while speaking in an online news conference.The day before the election, authorities forced his private security guards to withdraw from protecting his home, Mr. Afran said.He filed a petition in the International Criminal Court in early January accusing top government officials of sanctioning a wave of violence and attempting to kill him.In a news conference earlier on Friday at his residence, Mr. Wine sounded upbeat about his prospects of winning and cast doubt on the early results.“We have certainly won this election and we have won it by far,” Mr. Wine said. “The people of Uganda will and must reject the blatant usurpation of their will and their voice.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Uganda Election 2021: What's at Stake?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyUgandans Are Voting. Will Their President of 35 Years Win Again?Voting is underway in the East African nation, with the long-serving leader, President Yoweri Museveni, facing 10 rivals, including Bobi Wine, a lawmaker and musician.Waiting to vote in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on Thursday. The campaign has been marked by violence, killings and arbitrary arrests.Credit…Luke Dray/Getty ImagesJan. 14, 2021Updated 6:54 a.m. ETUgandans began voting on Thursday in a hotly contested election that will decide whether President Yoweri Museveni wins a sixth term in office and continues his 35-year rule of the country or is unseated by one of 10 rivals, including a leading opposition candidate, Bobi Wine, a rapper-turned-lawmaker.The vote, which has been unexpectedly competitive despite fierce government attempts to stifle the opposition, has drawn global attention as a test of how democracy might take hold in a country more accustomed to autocratic rule. The election is the fourth in the East African nation since multiparty politics was restored in 2005, two decades after Mr. Museveni first came to power and clamped down on competing parties.The ballot also comes several months after the government introduced strict rules to curb the coronavirus pandemic — measures that have kept confirmed caseloads under 38,000, but which human rights groups said were used to crack down on critics and restrict political gatherings.In a campaign marked by violence, killings and arbitrary arrests, observers will be watching for delays in ballot deliveries, voter intimidation and irregularities in vote tallying, along with possible unrest that could ensue in the coming days. The results of the election are expected late on Saturday.Who are the main presidential candidates?More than 18 million voters have registered for the election, where they will cast ballots for presidential, parliamentary and local representatives. There are 11 presidential candidates vying for the leadership of Uganda over the next five years, and a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.Most prominent among them is the incumbent, Mr. Museveni, a former rebel who came to power in January 1986 and has since ruled the country with an iron grip. At 76, Mr. Museveni is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.His main rival is Mr. Wine, a 38-year-old musician who was elected to Parliament in 2017. Mr. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has long used his music to lament the state of the country under Mr. Museveni and aims to galvanize the youth vote to unseat him. During the campaign, security forces have beaten and tear-gassed Mr. Wine and he was charged in court for flouting coronavirus rules.One of the main opposition candidates, Bobi Wine, after casting his ballot in Magere, Uganda, on Thursday. Mr. Wine, a rapper-turned-lawmaker, has long used his music to lament the state of the country.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn early January, he filed a petition with the International Criminal Court accusing Mr. Museveni’s government of authorizing a wave of violence against political figures and human rights lawyers — including attempts to kill him.Other candidates in the election have also been targeted, including Patrick Amuriat, who is representing the Forum for Democratic Change party. The authorities have beaten and detained Mr. Amuriat on several occasions, including the day he filed his candidacy papers in November.Nancy Kalembe Linda, a former banker and news anchor, is the only female candidate running for president.How has Museveni held on to power for so long?Since Uganda’s independence from Britain in 1962, there has been no peaceful handover of power. When Mr. Museveni seized the reins in 1986, on the back of an armed uprising, he promised that his government would further the cause of competitive politics in a nation that had endured years of colonialism, and then dictatorship and lawlessness under the rule of both Milton Obote and Idi Amin.But in the decades since, Mr. Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement have clung to power through politicized prosecution of opposition figures, while undermining independent media and civil society.Campaign posters at a bus stop in Kampala for President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 35 years and is running for his sixth term.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMr. Museveni’s government has “insisted that its political opponents were ‘foreign agents’ funded by outsiders, that they were self-interested, that they were immoral and disposed against Ugandans’ interest,” said Derek R. Peterson, a professor of history and African studies at the University of Michigan.Elections, when they have taken place, have been riddled with allegations of fraud and irregularities.In 2018, Mr. Museveni signed a law that scrapped the presidential age limit of 75, a move that critics said allowed him to seek re-election this year. Opposition legislators and lawyers challenged the amendment, but the Supreme Court upheld it in 2019.How has the government tried to control the flow of information?Since the campaign kicked off in early November, journalists have faced harassment and beatings from security forces as they covered opposition candidates. The authorities introduced stringent accreditation rules for reporters, and deported at least one foreign crew, according to the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists.Opposition candidates including Mr. Wine say they have been blocked by the authorities from appearing on radio stations to speak to the public.With limitations on public gatherings because of pandemic restrictions, “social media provided aspirants with a potential way of reaching a large number of prospective voters,” said Jamie Hitchen, an independent researcher who has studied the role of technology in African elections.But the government quickly found ways to undermine their reach on those platforms, too. In December, the government asked Google to block 14 YouTube channels, mostly linked to the opposition. Mr. Museveni also announced this week that he had ordered Facebook to be blocked in the country days after the company took down fake accounts linked to his re-election campaign.As voters headed to the polls on Thursday, internet connectivity remained down across Uganda as the government ordered telecom companies to block access to social media platforms and online messaging applications.What are the main issues at stake?For a long time, Mr. Museveni and his party have cast themselves as a bulwark against a return to the violence and political strife that shaped Uganda in the 1970s and ’80s. But with more than 75 percent of the population under the age of 30, many young people no longer “live in the shadow of history,” Professor Peterson of the University of Michigan said.“They have different aspirations, different fears, and different ambitions” than voters in earlier times, he added.At the polling station in Magere where Mr. Wine voted on Thursday. He has worked to galvanize the youth vote to unseat Mr. Museveni.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesKey among the concerns of younger people is the question of jobs. Around 700,000 Ugandans reach working age every year, but only 75,000 new jobs are created annually, according to the World Bank. Many are also frustrated by the corruption that has been rife in Mr. Museveni’s government for decades, and they yearn for better infrastructure and improved public services, including better education opportunities and affordable health care.Is the vote expected to be fair?Previous elections in Uganda have been dogged by irregularities along with reports of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and voter fraud. Voters across the country have also previously been denied the ability to cast their ballots, with officials saying that their names were not found on voter registries. Ballots to opposition strongholds, including in the capital Kampala, have also been delivered very late in the past.The validity of this election is already being questioned after observers, including from the United States, pulled out because of lack of accreditation. There have also been reports of the failure of electronic voter identification systems because of the internet shutdown.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Bobi Wine Petitions The Hague, Citing Human Rights Violations

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyUganda Opposition Candidate, Citing Abuses, Petitions International CourtThe leading opposition presidential candidate, Bobi Wine, urged the International Criminal Court to investigate human rights violations that have intensified in the run-up to this month’s election.Bobi Wine, Uganda’s leading opposition figure, was pulled from his car by the police on Thursday. He has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing the country’s president of authorizing a campaign of violence against opposition politicians and their supporters ahead of next week’s general election.CreditCredit…Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 8, 2021Updated 5:39 p.m. ETNAIROBI, Kenya — Uganda’s leading opposition figure has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against the country’s president and nine security officials, accusing them of authorizing a wave of violence and human rights abuses that has intensified in the run-up to next week’s general election.The complaint, filed in The Hague on Thursday by the opposition leader, Bobi Wine, also accused the Ugandan government of incitement to murder, the abuse of protesters, and arrests and beatings of political figures and human rights lawyers. Mr. Wine, a popular musician-turned-lawmaker, said the government of President Yoweri Museveni had not only subjected him to arrests and beatings, but had also tried to kill him, beginning in 2018.Mr. Wine, 38, is the leading contender among 10 candidates trying to unseat Mr. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda, a landlocked nation in East Africa, since 1986. Mr. Museveni, though once credited with bringing stability to the country, has in recent years been accused of subverting civil liberties, muzzling the press and stifling dissent.Mr. Museveni, 76, is campaigning for his sixth term in office, after signing a law in 2018 scrapping the age limit for presidential candidates, which had been 75. He is largely expected to win the upcoming vote. Political analysts say that he faces a fragmented opposition, and he won plaudits for championing infrastructure projects — from new factories to hospitals and roads. He has also capitalized on the notion that his government has handled the pandemic competently; Uganda has reported only 290 coronavirus-related deaths.Mr. Wine and others have faced the wrath of authorities in recent years, but the clampdown has intensified as the election, scheduled for Jan. 14, has neared. While Mr. Museveni has been allowed to hold campaign events, the government has broken up or impeded rallies held by his opponents, saying these events violate rules intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The crackdown on nationwide protests has led to the deaths of at least 54 people, and the arrest of hundreds, according to authorities.Joining Mr. Wine in the complaint filed to the International Criminal Court were Francis Zaake, an opposition lawmaker who said he had been assaulted by security forces, and Amos Katumba, the chairman of a local nongovernmental organization who fled to the United States after he said he had been arrested and tortured.“I am glad that we are able to raise a case against General Museveni and his other generals and the people that he’s using to massacre the people of Uganda,” Mr. Wine, using Mr. Museveni’s full military rank, said in an online news conference on Thursday.A government spokesman did not respond to a text message seeking comment.Billboards of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in Kampala.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWhile Mr. Wine was speaking to the news media on Thursday, security officers thronged the vehicle he was inside, setting off tear gas and firing shots.Wearing a helmet and flak jacket, Mr. Wine, a performer whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said he “expected a live bullet targeted at me any time.”The court filing came hours after Mr. Wine said security officers had waylaid him on the campaign trail and arrested all 23 members of his campaign team. He also said he had received information that his children would be kidnapped, prompting him to send them out of the country.Mr. Wine’s attempts to campaign have been repeatedly interrupted. On Nov. 3, just after submitting their nomination papers, he and another candidate, Patrick Amuriat, were detained by the police. In mid-November, Mr. Wine was arrested on accusations that his rallies breached coronavirus rules — inciting the protests across the country that resulted in deaths, injuries and arrests. After he was denied access to his family and lawyers for two days, Mr. Wine was charged and released on bail.In recent weeks, authorities have also arrested civil society activists, including the prominent human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo who was held on money laundering charges. Police officers have also harassed and beaten journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (C.P.J.), and deported a news crew with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.“What we’ve seen since November is incredibly worrying and shocking,” Muthoki Mumo, the C.P.J. sub-Saharan Africa representative, said in an interview. “It’s just unabated violence against journalists. It has become downright dangerous being a journalist reporting on the opposition during this election.”Martin Okoth, the inspector general of police, said in a news conference on Friday that he would not apologize for the police beating journalists because the police were trying to protect them.“We shall beat you for your own sake, to help you understand,” Mr. Okoth said, adding that journalists should not go to areas that the police deem unsafe or out of bounds.Police dispersing crowds as they gathered to welcome Mr. Wine in Kayunga last month.Credit…Sumy Sadurni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe wave of arrests and intimidation has alarmed foreign embassies and human rights organizations, with a group of United Nations human rights experts calling on the government to cease the violence and create “an environment conducive to peaceful and transparent elections.”The 47-page filing to the International Criminal Court contains detailed accounts, photos and links to videos alleging human rights abuses committed or sanctioned by Mr. Museveni and nine current and former officials.The court has jurisdiction over allegations of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. The prosecutor’s office confirmed in an email on Friday that they had received the brief and would review the allegations and inform the petitioners of the next steps.Uganda is a party to the International Criminal Court and has sought the court’s help in arresting Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who is wanted on 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. If it decides to accept Mr. Wine’s petition, the court would gather evidence by speaking to victims and witnesses and send investigators to collect testimony in areas where purported crimes took place.Bruce Afran, the lawyer who filed the complaint on behalf of Mr. Wine, argued that the court would have jurisdiction because the complaint alleges an “extensive and repetitive pattern and practice of torture as to political figures and opposition figures.”“One of the critical factors is the regular and routinized pattern of torture and abuse,” Mr. Afran said, asserting that it had become “Ugandan government policy.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More