Uganda is in the final days of a chaotic and violent election campaign, which bears witness to the determination of outgoing President Yoweri Museveni to continue his 35-year rule at all costs.
In the streets of Kampala, new posters mark the countdown every day between the country and the re-election announced on January 14 of President Museveni, 76, who wears a discreet smile and one of his eternal wide-brimmed hats.
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"We are certain of victory" on January 14, the ex-guerrilla declared in January.
His ten opposition opponents cannot say the same, they who accused Yoweri Museveni and his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), of having totally distorted electoral competition, by resorting to violence and instrumentalizing preventive measures against the coronavirus epidemic.
The president's main rival, Bobi Wine, a popular reggae singer turned MP in 2017, traded his tailored suits and distinctive red beret during the campaign for a bulletproof vest and heavy helmet.
The day of the official submission of candidatures by the 11 candidates, November 3, set the tone for the next eight weeks: Bobi Wine was arrested there in the greatest confusion, leading to clashes between his supporters and the security forces.
Patrick Amuriat, candidate of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), party of the former historic opponent Kizza Besigye, had lost a shoe in a fight with the police when he came to submit his candidacy.
He now speaks barefoot to his supporters in a symbolic gesture of defiance.
Bloodbath
Since then, Bobi Wine, 38, has been arrested numerous times as the police dispersed his meetings with tear gas and flashballs.
One of his arrests ended in a bloodbath on November 18: the security forces, confronted with the anger of the supporters of the deputy-singer, used live ammunition and killed 54 people in one day.
"All my deputies and assistants have been the target of shots," recently assured AFP Bobi Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi.
On Friday, Bobi Wine called the prolonged detention of several dozen members of his campaign team an "abuse of law".
"But as I said before, Uganda is not governed by law."
Apart from arresting my campaign team & security team, for over a month now more than 2000 NUP supporters have been picked up from their homes in the dead of the night and detained in unknown locations!
Living under a dictatorship is such an experience!
#WeAreRemovingADictator pic.twitter.com/R9cQUOml1d
- BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) January 9, 2021
At the end of December, a hundred members of his team were arrested while the ex-popstar was escorted to his home in Kampala in an army helicopter to prevent him from holding a planned rally 100 km from the capital. .
Other candidates saw some of their meetings, although authorized by the authorities, ultimately banned by the police.
"It is quite obvious that for the security forces, this is not an election," said political scientist Yusuf Serunkuma, professor at the prestigious Makerere University in Kampala, to AFP.
"Would you brutalize a guy if he could become the next commander-in-chief? The candidates are faced with something that is simply irremovable," adds the academic.
Health rules that hinder the campaign
The Ugandan electoral commission has imposed specific rules to stem the Covid-19 pandemic: the country has recorded more than 35,000 cases and the spread of the virus has accelerated in recent weeks.
The electoral campaign should therefore be "scientific", according to the commission, and be held without large traditional gatherings.
But the opposition quickly denounced the fact that these rules did not apply to the presidential candidate.
"We observed that the restrictions due to Covid-19 had gradually been implemented more strictly to reduce the activities of the opposition electoral campaign in a discriminatory way", noted Friday the spokesperson of the Haut -United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani.
In the name of the fight against the virus, the campaign was suspended in Kampala, a stronghold of the opposition, while Yoweri Museveni benefited from great visibility, multiplying official trips and inaugurations, widely reported by the public media.
In December, authorities even invoked national security to ask Google to block Bobi Wine's Ghetto TV YouTube channel, one of its main communication tools.
On Thursday, the former singer confirmed to AFP that he had decided to send his four children and his sister-in-law to the United States for their safety.
With AFP
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