President warns opposition is ‘taking part in with hearth’ by taking to the streets.
Ugandan safety forces have surrounded the headquarters of the primary opposition occasion prematurely of a deliberate antigovernment rally over alleged corruption and human rights abuses.
Police and troopers lower off entry to the workplace of the Nationwide Unity Platform (NUP), which sits close to the capital, Kampala, on Monday. The specter of protests has angered longtime President Yoweri Museveni, who claimed it to be a plot being operated by unnamed “foreigners”.
NUP chief Robert Kyagulanyi claimed that the blockade prevented folks from getting into or leaving, whereas some have been roughly detained.
“These cowards have turned the Nationwide Unity Platform Headquarters right into a navy barracks,” he wrote on X.
Kyagulanyi, popularly often known as Bobi Wine, added that a number of opposition leaders had been “violently arrested”.
These cowards have turned the Nationwide Unity Platform Headquarters right into a navy barracks. A number of leaders have been violently arrested. They’ve now blocked the roads resulting in the workplace. All as a result of THEY ARE SCARED OF THE PEOPLE. And sure, WHEN WE LOSE OUR FEAR FOR THEM,… pic.twitter.com/ogLuJSLN0x
— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) July 22, 2024
Bobi Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has lately emerged as the largest challenger to Museveni.
The 79-year-old has dominated the East African nation since 1986. Nevertheless, Ugandan youth have spearheaded unrest lately, and are planning to march to parliament on Tuesday to protest in opposition to alleged widespread corruption and human rights abuses.
‘Crimson flag’
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke mentioned safety forces had taken precautionary steps in opposition to what he known as NUP’s “mobilisation for the protest”.
“Now we have been monitoring [this]. Their actions raised a purple flag and we took precaution[ary] measures,” he mentioned.
Opposition leaders and rights activists say embezzlement and misuse of presidency funds are pervasive in Uganda. They’ve lengthy accused Museveni of failing to prosecute corrupt high-level officers who’re politically loyal or associated to him.
The NGO Transparency Worldwide ranks Uganda low on its corruption perceptions index, at 141 out of 180 international locations.
Museveni has repeatedly denied tolerating corruption. He says culprits, together with lawmakers and ministers, are prosecuted if there’s sufficient proof.
In a speech on Saturday, the president warned Uganda’s youth in opposition to the deliberate protest, warning them that they’re “taking part in with hearth”.
“Some parts, a few of them from the opposition, are at all times working with the foreigners to foment chaos in Uganda – riots, unlawful demonstrations, unlawful and thoughtless processions, and so forth. These folks … ought to examine themselves or we will don’t have any various however to examine them,” he mentioned.
