Reuters
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Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine’s party said on Friday that he was taken from his home by the military and taken to an unknown location as President Yoweri Museveni was on the brink of a landslide re-election.
Mr Wine’s National Unity Platform party said in a post on X on Friday night that a military helicopter had landed at his compound in the capital Kampala and he was “forcibly taken to an unknown destination”.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the claims, and some party officials said they were unconfirmed. Spokespeople for the Ugandan government and military did not respond to requests for comment.
Wine alleges massive fraud in Thursday’s election, which was held amid an internet blackout, and called on his supporters to protest. His party announced Thursday that he had been placed under de facto house arrest.
The vote is widely seen as a test of the 81-year-old Museveni’s political strength and ability to avert the unrest that has rocked neighboring Tanzania and Kenya.
As of Friday night, Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, held an overwhelming lead with about 74% of the vote, according to the electoral commission. Wine followed at 23%.
Thursday’s vote passed peacefully after an election campaign marred by clashes at opposition rallies and widespread repression and intimidation by the United Nations.
But violence erupted overnight in the town of Butambara, about 55 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, according to a police spokesperson and the region’s parliamentarians, who each gave different accounts of events.
Local police spokeswoman Lydia Tumusabe said machete-wielding opposition “thugs” organized by local lawmaker Mwanga Kivumbi attacked police stations and vote counting centres.
“The security services responded in self-defense because these people came in large numbers. The police fired in self-defense,” she told Reuters, adding that 25 people were arrested.
But Kivumbi told Reuters the victims were killed at around 3am as they waited in their home for the results of the election for his seat to be announced.
“They killed 10 people inside my house,” he said. “There were people in the garage waiting for the results to celebrate my victory.”
“They broke down the front door and started shooting inside the garage. It was a massacre.”
He said security forces first dispersed the crowd outside, but disputed police claims that the deaths occurred during clashes between the two sides.
Police spokesperson Tumushabe said he was not aware of the incident at Kivumbi’s home, which was near the police station.
Reuters could not independently confirm the circumstances of the violence.
