Category Archives: Yoweri Museveni

From naked protests to challenging Museveni: Uganda’s ‘rudest feminist’ on the campaign trail

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Stella Nyanzi is Uganda's most outspoken, self-described radical queer feminist. She has been imprisoned for her activism and is known for her attention-grabbing naked protests and poetry. In an election campaign that has become increasingly violent, Nyanzi is standing to be the elected MP for Kampala, as part of the growing nationwide opposition to the 35-year presidency of Yoweri Museveni. 

With most attention focused on Museveni's presidential challenger Bobi Wine, Nyanzi is on the streets and in the media campaigning for her own votes. She vows that, unlike other women who have been elected, she will not forget her commitment to feminism if she wins

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Wole Soyinka: ‘One casualty of the Capitol riot will be Uganda’s election’

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One of Africa’s most prominent literary figures says the election will be crucial for the continent

Global outrage at the storming of the US Capitol risks diverting attention from repression by Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, the Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka has said on the eve of Uganda’s election.

Soyinka, a Nobel laureate and one of Africa’s most prominent literary figures, described Thursday’s election as “crucial for the African continent”, and called for the 76-year-old Museveni and other older African leaders to step aside for a younger generation.

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‘Agent of foreign interests’: Museveni lashes out at Uganda election rival

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Presidential challenger Bobi Wine has been protesting against corruption and youth unemployment

As Uganda readies for an election on Thursday, President Yoweri Museveni is doubling down on his main rival and preparing himself for a sixth term in office.

After 35 years in power, he faces a powerful opponent, the popular singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, 38, known by his stage name Bobi Wine, who has captured the hearts of a new generation by protesting against corruption and youth unemployment.

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‘This is Africa’s generational cause,’ says Uganda’s election challenger

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As a campaign marred by violence comes to an end, Bobi Wine warns President Museveni to learn from history

Millions of voters in Uganda will cast their votes this week in an election pitting a 76-year-old president seeking his sixth term against a former popular musician half his age.

The contest between Bobi Wine, 38, and Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is being keenly watched across the continent, where veteran leaders are coming under pressure to give way to politicians more representative of Africa’s increasingly youthful, urban and educated population.

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Bobi Wine confronted by Ugandan police during appeal for ICC inquiry

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Presidential candidate dragged from car during online press briefing calling for investigation into rights abuses

Police in Uganda have confronted the presidential candidate Bobi Wine during an online press conference where he announced a petition to the international criminal court to investigate rights abuses in the country.

Related: Bobi Wine likens Uganda election to 'a war and a battlefield'

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Bobi Wine likens Uganda election to ‘a war and a battlefield’

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Exclusive: Reggae singer turned opposition leader tells of how he fears for his life

Bobi Wine, the former reggae singer turned Ugandan opposition leader, has spoken about his country’s bitter and violent presidential election campaign as it moves into its final two weeks.

“The campaign is crazy. It’s like a war and a battlefield,” Wine said in an interview conducted before he was detained for a third time in two months on Wednesday.

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Uganda’s young voters are hungry for change – and for Bobi Wine

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President Museveni promised much when he took power but, 34 years on, violence and poverty are rife

To survive as an opposition politician in Uganda, you have to hit the campaign trail wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet. You must be ready for war. Ugandan musician turned opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, discovered this when he decided to challenge incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s 34-year stranglehold on power at elections scheduled for 14 January. On the first day Kyagulanyi stepped out to campaign, he wore his vest over red overalls that made him look like a prisoner.

“I do not dress like this because I want to. I dress like this because there are people after my life. They think that by killing me, they will have it better. They do not know that if I die, it will only get worse,” he told the crowd outside his house.

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Bobi Wine protests: arrest sparks Uganda’s worst unrest in years – video report

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At least 19 people have been killed in Uganda over two days in the country’s worst unrest in a decade, as security forces try to quell protests triggered by the arrest of presidential candidate Bobi Wine. Known by supporters as ‘the ghetto president’, Wine is one of a new generation of politicians across Africa who are challenging longtime leaders, including President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled the east African nation for nearly 35 years

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Violent clashes in Uganda after pop star politician detained

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Security forces clash with supporters of Bobi Wine after he was held for breaching Covid-19 rules before rally

Security forces in Uganda have fought running battles with supporters of the popular Ugandan reggae singer and opposition presidential hopeful Bobi Wine after the 38-year-old was arrested for breaching Covid-19 regulations shortly before a rally.

Police arrested Wine, who is hoping to unseat Uganda’s long-time leader, Yoweri Museveni, in the eastern town of Luuka.

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Uganda elections: on the campaign trail with the country’s rudest feminist

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From naked protests to spells in prison, Stella Nyanzi has stood up to President Museveni – now she’s standing as an MP

“Stella is my Mama Africa, because she has always fought for women!” shouts Hanifa Nagujja, a 28-year-old cook at akatale kabalema or “market of the disabled” in the heart of Kampala, Uganda’s capital.

Nagujja is one of about 15 women in gingham aprons who are jumping in the air in elation, clapping, finger-clicking and ululating as Stella Nyanzi weaves her way through bubbling pots of groundnut sauce, beans and matooke. Some of them chant “Nnalongo! Nnalongo!” – the name given to mothers of twins in Buganda culture.

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Bobi Wine accuses Ugandan president of ‘trumped up’ claims to block election bid

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Opposition leader says Yoweri Museveni behind campaign of intimidation to stop him standing

Bobi Wine, the popular reggae star and prominent opposition leader in Uganda, has accused the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, of seeking to block his candidature at next year’s elections through a series of “trumped up” legal challenges and a campaign of intimidation.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said he was calling on people all over the world to “keep their eyes” on Uganda because international attention was the only way to “stop human rights abuses and impunity in Uganda today”.

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Ugandan lawmakers reject plan for Murchison Falls hydropower dam

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Activists praise decision to reject energy ministry’s proposal to dam the world-famous waterfall

Conservationists in Uganda have hailed a bipartisan decision to reject the government’s plan to construct a hydro-power dam at the country’s biggest tourist attraction.

Lawmakers unanimously adopted a report by the 28 member parliamentary committee on environment on Thursday, rejecting the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development proposal to build a 360MW at Uhuru Falls on Murchison Falls national park.

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Uganda reopens border to thousands of people fleeing violence in DRC

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Call for other African countries to reopen for refugees, after crossings were shut to stem the spread of coronavirus

Uganda has temporarily opened its border to thousands of people fleeing deadly ethnic clashes in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The Ugandan government closed its reception centres at border crossings in March in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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We Ugandans are used to lockdowns and poor healthcare. But we’re terrified

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Coronavirus has given President Yoweri Museveni an opportunity to further clamp down on freedoms

In Uganda, for the first time since 2013, more than three people can legally meet without needing to inform the police. Last week, parts of the Public Order Management Act, a law used to gag political opponents, was declared unconstitutional. But most Ugandans are staying away from crowds and keeping at home to control the spread of coronavirus.

The government moved quickly to close schools and universities. Measures became more and more stringent – closing borders, compulsory quarantine, banning public transport and the sale of non-food items at open markets.

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Uganda’s crackdown on public gatherings ruled unconstitutional

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Swipe at lawmakers as judge says only ‘undemocratic and authoritarian regimes’ seek to ban peaceful protests

Government opponents and human rights activists have welcomed a decision by Uganda’s constitutional court to overturn legislation that gave police “supernatural powers” to stop public gatherings and protests.

“It is only in undemocratic and authoritarian regimes that peaceful protests and public gatherings of a political nature are not tolerated,” said Justice Cheborion Barishaki in a ruling on Thursday.

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Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni begins six-day trek through jungle

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President’s critics decry plan to retrace steps of his guerrilla forces that seized power in 1986

The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, began a six-day march through the jungle on Saturday to retrace the steps of his guerrilla forces when they seized power three decades ago

Museveni is one of Africa’s longest-ruling leaders. He seized power in 1986 after taking part in rebellions to end the rule of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and is expected to seek a sixth term in office in elections due in 2021. Critics dismissed the march as an attempt to rally support ahead of the poll.

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Presidential reprieve for the ‘idle and disorderly’ of Uganda

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Yoweri Museveni calls for repeal of ‘colonial’ law grounded in ‘fear of Africans’ as he orders immediate release of people arrested for ‘nonsensical crime’

Uganda’s president has ordered a reprieve for street vendors arrested in a recent “idleness” crackdown, saying the law was the result of a colonial “fear” of Africans.

Yoweri Museveni signed a directive to the attorney general and the chief of police for the immediate release of people jailed for being idle and disorderly.

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Activist who branded Uganda president ‘a dirty, delinquent dictator’ is jailed

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Stella Nyanzi vows to persist with criticism of Yoweri Museveni after receiving 18-month prison sentence for cyber harassment

Stella Nyanzi, the Ugandan women’s rights activist and staunch government critic who once called head of state Yoweri Museveni “a pair of buttocks”, has received an 18-month jail sentence after she was found guilty of cyber harassment against the president.

Nyanzi, a former researcher at Makerere University, was arrested on 2 November after posting a poem on Facebook that the state deemed abusive towards Museveni and his late mother.

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