Dr Besigye was sworn in by a judge and when his party announced the news he was arrested soon after
Adding another twist to Gen. Yoweri Museveni’s May 12 swearing-in plans the United States now says it doesn’t endorse either the general or his challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye who was sworn in today before Museveni’s Thursday ceremony.
“As we have said before, the United States does not support or endorse any one party or candidate in Uganda,” says Jeffrey Loree, Spokesman for The State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. “We remain deeply concerned that government security forces continue to detain members of the political opposition and restrict their freedom of movement. We reiterate our call to the Ugandan government to immediately release Dr. Kizza Besigye from house arrest as well to release all other detained opposition members.”
The State Department was responding to inquiries from The Black Star News to the announcement earlier today that Dr. Besigye had been sworn in as president of Uganda.
The U.S., the Commonwealth, and the European Union (EU) have all said the Feb. 18 election was not free, fair, or credible.
Dr. Besigye has said he was sworn in because his party the Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) tallies showed him winning 52% of the vote.
The Museveni hand-picked Uganda Electoral Commission under Badru Kiggundu awarded him the election.
Besigye has called for an independent audit of the election results similar to the one conducted in Afghanistan in 2014 to break the stalemate between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.
