Uganda police arrest opposition leader seeking to unseat Museveni

The police in Uganda have arrested Bobi Wine, a singer-turned-politician who is particularly popular among the youth as he sought to start public meetings ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Reports say policemen who stormed the venue of his meeting scheduled to begin on Monday a week after he held a long series of consultations ahead of the 2021 presidential polls, fired tear gas to disperse his supporters.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga confirmed that Bobi Wine and members of his entourage had been arrested.

“We are temporarily holding them in our police station in Kasangati. We shall have to release them at some later stage but we are looking at charges of holding an unlawful assembly and disobedience of lawful orders,” Enanga told reporters.

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The development comes after President Yoweri Museveni embarked on a six-day journey through a jungle, walking 195 km (121 miles) to retrace the route he and his forces took in 1986, when they seized power from the tyrant, Idi Amin and Milton Obote.

Reports say Mr Museveni will end his march in the western town of Birembo, the site of one of the fiercest battles between Mr Museveni’s rebels and then-President Obote’s troops, on 10 January.

The president’s senior press secretary, Don Wanyama, told newsmen: “This is a journey that the president is leading, a journey through the past to appreciate the present.

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