Bobi Wine supporters. This is the face of change dictator Museveni fears. Photo: Facebook.
At least seven supporters of leading presidential candidate Bobi Wine were reported killed by soldiers loyal to Uganda’s beleaguered dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni today, during a campaign tour in Kasese, 321 miles west of the capital, Kampala.
The killings bring to more than 52 now in state-created election violence since last Wednesday when as many as 47 unarmed civilians were shot to death by regime forces—they had been protesting against the arrest of Bobi Wine.
Bobi Wine, whose given name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, is also a member of Parliament. The 38-year-old’s candidacy is surging, buoyed by the country’s youth. Uganda’s population is more than 80% under the age of 35, while Gen. Museveni’s official age is 76, but he’s believed to be as old as 80.
Kasese was also the locale of a major massacre in 2016, when Gen. Museveni’s security forces killed at least 150 civilians after a raid on the palace of a regional hereditary monarch, King Wesley Mumbere of Rwenzori. Gen. Museveni later boasted in an interview on Al Jazeera that he issued the order for the attack. The people in Rwenzori had supported an opposition candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye in the 2016 election.
Even though security forces blocked Bobi Wine from reaching the location where he was to hold a rally in Kasese today, thousands of his supporters walked for over six miles to see the candidate, according to a posting on his Facebook page.
Bobi Wine is running on the National Unity Platform (NUP) party ticket.
