If he wins Uganda election, Museveni will work with his seventh US president. Here’s how the US has helped him stay in power
“I have regularly been beaten and pepper-sprayed on the campaign trail,” Wine, who escaped unharmed from the incident, informed CNN in a cellphone dialog two days previous to the incident.
Following the incident, the convention organizers, Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit selling democracy in African nations, filed a grievance with the International Criminal Court in opposition to Museveni and different high-ranking Ugandan officers for “violations of international law governing human rights and crimes against humanity.”
Assaults on democracy
Wine, who often wears a helmet and flak jacket on the marketing campaign path, is seen as the most outstanding challenger, and his message has struck a chord with Uganda’s younger folks.
World Bank information exhibits three-quarters of Ugandans are beneath the age of 30 and have by no means identified one other president.
They have accused him of attacking the press, permitting navy and police brutality, suspending opposition campaigning, and arresting activists in a bid to cling to power.
In an deal with to the nation on the identical day, Museveni confirmed that Facebook and different social media was blocked, accusing them of “arrogance”.
Facebook informed CNN on Monday it had eliminated accounts linked to the Government Citizens Interaction Center at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology in Uganda for utilizing “fake and duplicate accounts” to make the authorities “appear more popular” than they have been.
The President mentioned that any state interference in Bobi Wine’s makes an attempt to marketing campaign was as a result of he has been violating well being measures throughout the pandemic, saying that the virus “has killed very many people in Europe and in the United States.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, he said that Wine ran into “conflicts with the regulation,” because he defied bans on public gatherings.
However, Museveni himself has held campaign events and there have been calls from opposition candidates for Uganda’s Electoral Commission to sanction all parties who flout Covid-19 campaign guidelines, including the President’s.
The President added in the interview that he would “settle for the outcomes” if he lost.
“Uganda isn’t my home… if the folks of Uganda don’t desire me to assist them with their points, I am going and deal with my private points very fortunately.”
An iron grip on power
Museveni has maintained an iron grip on power in Uganda for nearly 35 years with help from Western allies and many say that the US is complicit in the anti-democratic tendencies of their staunch military ally.
“The United States helps Museveni stay in power,” Wine told CNN on January 5. “If democracy is essential, they need to rethink giving Uganda cash used to homicide and oppress.”
“Museveni is a brilliant participant,” said Ken Opalo, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, who has written on Museveni’s foreign policy. “He realized he may very well be a helpful ally to the US in the battle on terror but in addition in stabilizing the Great Lakes area [of East Africa].”
This partnership means the US authorities performs a key function in “professionalizing” the military, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), says the State Department on its website. It has also received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of hardware from the US, said Opalo.
Museveni has proved useful, particularly in the fight against terror, added Opalo. Since he seized power following a guerrilla struggle against the government, Uganda has been a source of regional stability, committing troops and working closely with successive US administrations.
Human rights teams and opposition candidates usually accuse the safety forces of abuse and blurring the line between navy and police enforcement.
Arbitrary arrests, detentions, and beatings are frequent in Uganda.
“UPDF has been concerned in incidents alongside the police,” Otsieno Namwaya, the East Africa director of Human Rights Watch, an NGO that advocates for human rights, told CNN.
Neither the UPDF nor Ugandan police responded to CNN’s requests for comment on these allegations.
At least 45 were killed in protests in November sparked by the arrest of Wine and another opposition candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, for breaking coronavirus regulations.
Since then, Wine has said he has been blocked from holding campaign activities several times. He has also accused security forces of shooting at and teargassing him.
Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo was arrested on December 22 by a “safety and monetary intelligence” team for “cash laundering and associated malicious acts.” He helped Wine out of military detention in 2018, and has since been granted bail but the arrest was met with international condemnation.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticized Opiyo’s arrest and said it reflected “the harmful atmosphere” created to “marginalize and repress civil society.”
Wine’s bodyguard was run over and killed by a UPDF military-police truck, but a spokesperson for the Ugandan military denied it was a targeted attack.
All bark no bite
High-ranking US officials were vocal about the outbreak of violence in the country late last year. On December 9, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs asked the State Department to “evaluate all non-humanitarian help to Uganda.”
The next day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet the US was “paying shut consideration to the actions of people who search to impede the ongoing democratic course of.”
Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a Senate resolution on December 17 calling on Museveni’s government to “create circumstances for credible democratic elections.”
Yet military aid has not been withdrawn, and the US continues to train Uganda’s soldiers, Opalo told CNN.
When contacted by CNN, Menendez urged Museveni to “enable the folks of Uganda to take part in a clear election and respect their will.”
“I’m deeply involved about the long-term penalties of this disaster for our nation’s credibility as we proceed to help democracy round the world,” he told CNN in a statement. “On January 14, the Ugandan folks should be given a chance to have their voices heard. The Museveni regime’s continued assault on political opposition, media and dissenting voices should cease,” Menendez added.
A cordial economic relationship
The US and Uganda have had diplomatic relations since 1962, following the East African country’s independence from the United Kingdom.
After Museveni seized power, Uganda became relatively stable and experienced economic growth. Uganda is eligible for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and US exports include machinery, optical and medical instruments, wheat, and aircraft, says the State Department on its website.
Despite the rampant corruption, economic mismanagement, misuse of public funds, and discriminatory legal systems listed by the State Department, Uganda received at least $434 million in US foreign assistance in 2020.
A State Department Spokesperson informed CNN that the division is “paying shut consideration to the actions of people and organizations who search to impede the ongoing democratic course of…”
Wine says he has a five-point plan which pledges to reduce corruption, but he knows he faces an uphill task. Museveni has seen off many worthy challengers during his tenure, and this time might be no different.
“Part of Museveni’s technique is to leverage all the instability round him and it is labored for him; he’s stayed in power for 35 years. But it has been horrible for Uganda,” mentioned Opalo.
