Ugandan police on Saturday, January 17, denied allegations by opposition leader Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) that he had been arrested by soldiers as President Yoweri Museveni closed in on a landslide re-election.
NUP claimed on Friday night that an army helicopter had landed in Wine’s compound in Kampala and “forcibly took him away to an unknown destination”. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
National police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told a televised news conference that Wine was at his home and free to move. “He is not under arrest,” Rusoke said. Wine and NUP representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wine has alleged mass fraud during Thursday’s election, which took place under an internet blackout, and has called on supporters to protest. His party said on Thursday he had been placed under effective house arrest.
The vote has been seen as a test of the 81-year-old Museveni’s political strength and his ability to avoid the unrest that recently unsettled neighbouring Tanzania and Kenya.
By Saturday morning, Museveni, in power since 1986, held a commanding lead with nearly 72% of the vote, the electoral commission said. Wine trailed with 24%, with more than 90% of polling stations counted.
After a campaign marked by clashes at opposition rallies and what the United Nations described as widespread repression and intimidation, voting passed peacefully on Thursday.
Violence, however, broke out early Friday in the town of Butambala, about 55km southwest of Kampala, according to both a police spokesperson and a local MP, who offered differing accounts of the events.
Local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe said machete-wielding opposition “goons” organised by local MP Muwanga Kivumbi attacked a police station and vote-tallying centre.
“Security responded in self-defence because these people came in big numbers. Police fired in self-defence,” she said, adding that 25 people were arrested. Kivumbi disputed the official account, telling Reuters that victims were killed at about 3am inside his house, where people had gathered awaiting the announcement of results for his parliamentary seat.
“They killed 10 people inside my house,” he said. “There were people inside the garage who were waiting for the results to celebrate my victory. They broke the front door and began shooting inside the garage. It was a massacre.”
He said security forces had earlier dispersed crowds outside but rejected the police account that the deaths resulted from clashes between rival groups.
Tumushabe said she was not aware of an incident inside Kivumbi’s house, which she noted was close to the police station. Reuters was not able to independently confirm the circumstances surrounding the violence.
