Kampala: The Ugandan army announced Friday the killing of 30 opposition members and the arrest of 2,000 others following the presidential elections held on January 15, in which 81-year-old Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term. The army also stated that it is pursuing other wanted individuals.
According to Qatar News Agency, Army Commander Muhoozi Kaynerogaba, Museveni's son, said on the X platform, "We have killed 30 members of the National Unity Platform party so far," without specifying the circumstances of their deaths. He added that authorities have arrested 2,000 supporters of the opposition led by Bobi Wine and are pursuing more.
The government has accused Wine's supporters of committing acts of violence during the elections, while the opposition maintains that its members have been attacked by security forces and detained without legal basis in recent months due to their political affiliation, accusing the authorities of intimidation.
Opposition parties and human rights activists confirmed that some detainees were being held in unofficial detention centers, and that others were being tortured there.
This prompted UN Secretary-General Ant³nio Guterres to express his concern on Thursday regarding the arrests and violence against opposition figures and their supporters. He stressed the need for all parties to exercise maximum restraint, respect the rule of law, and uphold Uganda's international human rights obligations.
The security crackdown intensified after the arrest on Thursday of Mwanga Kivumbi, a member of parliament and deputy for Wine from the National Unity Party. He appeared in court in Butambala on Wednesday on terrorism charges.
Reports also emerged of the disappearance of two other prominent figures from the same party in recent days. Kivumbi appeared in court in Butambala on Wednesday on terrorism charges.
The election commission had declared Museveni, who has led Uganda for nearly four decades, the winner by a landslide over Wine, 43, who refused to acknowledge the results of the ballot boxes, saying that "widespread irregularities" had occurred, before going into hiding.