Ugandan opposition chief Bobi Wine says he’s below home arrest after getting back from abroad

Issued on: 05/10/2023 – 10:59Modified: 05/10/2023 – 13:49

3 min

Wine, a popstar-turned-politician who ran towards veteran President Yoweri Museveni in Uganda‘s final election in 2021, has been arrested quite a few occasions.

Learn extraRun-up to Uganda vote marred by violence, repression

“They picked me illegally such as you noticed and as we converse proper now I am below home arrest. Troopers and police are throughout,” Wine advised journalists at his residence north of the capital Kampala.

“As quickly as I landed goons grabbed me, dragged me, twisted my palms and bundled me right into a ready non-public automobile. They drove me to the previous airport the place they pulled me out and put me in a army automobile with many troopers and cops.

“It was very humiliating,” mentioned Wine, whose actual identify is Robert Kyagulanyi. 

He additionally mentioned that 300 of his supporters had been arrested, however didn’t give particulars and AFP was not in a position to independently verify his declare.

Police denied Wine had been arrested, saying that they had “escorted” the 41-year-old from Uganda’s Entebbe Worldwide Airport to his residence.

“We want to inform the general public that the NUP president, Hon. Kyagulanyi Robert was efficiently escorted by our safety group from Entebbe to his residence in Magere,” the Uganda Police Power mentioned on X, formally Twitter.

“He reached his residence round 11:20 am, and is along with his household and buddies. Disregard rumours of his arrest by propagandists.”

A video posted by Wine’s Nationwide Unity Platform (NUP) confirmed him being grabbed by safety brokers as quickly as he stepped off the airplane as a person shouted repeatedly: “The place are you taking him, the place are you taking him.”

Wine’s supporters had deliberate to accompany him en masse to his residence, however police had mentioned such a gathering was unlawful.

Rallies banned 

Ugandan authorities have a protracted historical past of utilizing so-called “preventative arrest” to detain opposition leaders, typically holding them for a number of hours earlier than returning them to their properties in order to stymie mass demonstrations.

Final month, Ugandan police introduced they have been banning rallies being organised by the Nationwide Unity Platform throughout the nation due to public order points.

Wine made a failed bid for the presidency in 2021 in a tense election towards Museveni, who has dominated over Uganda with an iron fist since 1986.

The election marketing campaign was marked by a crackdown on the opposition and at the least 54 individuals have been killed throughout anti-government demonstrations.

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Wine flew in from South Africa by way of the Rwandan capital Kigali after a tour to advertise a documentary about him by Nationwide Geographic TV entitled “Bobi Wine: The Individuals’s President.”

His return was eagerly anticipated by his supporters, lots of whom view him as a logo of change in a rustic dominated for thus lengthy by one man.

Ugandan troopers and different safety forces had been deployed on roads resulting in Entebbe airport since early Thursday morning, in addition to exterior NUP workplaces and in Kampala’s central enterprise district.

Police had warned organisers to not go forward with the deliberate procession and for individuals to not be part of the gathering, with police spokesman Patrick Onyango describing it as an “illegality”.

As soon as hailed for his dedication to good governance, former insurgent chief Museveni has crushed any opposition and tweaked the structure to permit himself to run time and again.

The subsequent presidential poll is due in 2026. Museveni, 79, has but to say if he’ll stand.

(AFP)