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Bobi Wine: The People’s President – a gripping Oscar-nominated film about Uganda’s fight for freedom

Bobi Wine: The People’s President – a gripping Oscar-nominated film about Uganda’s fight for freedom

Bobi Wine is a pop star in Uganda who uses his music for political protest and social activism. Born Robert Kyagulanyi, he became a member of parliament (MP) in 2017 and has gone on to lead a popular opposition movement in the face of state violence and repression. His political journey is now the subject of a documentary. JULIA CAIN, Lecturer in Screen Production and Film Theory & Practice, University of Cape Town Bobi Wine: The People’s President is one of the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars in the US. All five are…
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Uganda’s battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check

Uganda’s battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check

UGANDA is one of the youngest countries in the world, with an average age of 15.9 years. Young people aged below 30 make up about 77% of the country’s population of 47 million people. Young people have legitimate and wide-ranging grievances, from unemployment to disenfranchisement. Opportunities remain limited, with two-thirds of Ugandans working for themselves or doing family-based agricultural work. REBECCA TAPSCOTT, Lecturer, University of York ANNA MACDONALD, Associate Professor, Global Development, University of East Anglia Yet, young people in Uganda haven’t coalesced as an electoral bloc. This is despite the emergence of a presidential candidate who champions youth issues.…
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Black November: remembering Uganda’s massacre of the opposition three years on

Black November: remembering Uganda’s massacre of the opposition three years on

NOVEMBER marks a sombre anniversary in Uganda’s recent political history. In 2020, the East African country’s leading opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, was arrested. He was on the campaign trail ahead of the 2021 presidential elections. LUKE MELCHIORRE, Associate Professor, Political Science and Global Studies, Universidad de los Andes Mass demonstrations demanding the release of the popular musician-turned-presidential candidate broke out in and around the capital, Kampala. Over two days, security agents of the regime of Yoweri Museveni – in power since 1986 – cracked down on the protests. They fired live ammunition into crowds of protesters, killing…
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Uganda arrests 40 opposition supporters as their leader arrives

Uganda arrests 40 opposition supporters as their leader arrives

UGANDAN security forces have arrested 40 people during an operation against supporters of opposition leader Bobi Wine whose detention under house arrest the United States said demonstrated eroding democracy in the East African country. The 40 were held in the capital Kampala and elsewhere as authorities thwarted plans to hold what the opposition had described as a million-strong march on Thursday. The march was supposed to have begun at Entebbe International Airport, south of the capital, where Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, arrived from abroad. Wine was instead bundled into a vehicle and driven home where he has…
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Uganda opposition says leader detained at airport, police dispute claim

Uganda opposition says leader detained at airport, police dispute claim

UGANDA'S main opposition party said its leader Bobi Wine had been detained at the airport as he returned from a trip abroad, but police said they had accompanied him to his residence. In recent years Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has emerged as the strongest challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has been in power in the East African country since 1986. Wine finished runner-up to Museveni in a 2021 election that he said was marred by fraud. Museveni's government has faced criticism from opponents and human rights activists for stifling the opposition, a charge Museveni denies.…
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Uganda move to close UN rights office angers opposition

Uganda move to close UN rights office angers opposition

A move by Uganda's government to close the United Nations' local human rights office has drawn strong criticism from opposition leaders and activists, who say it highlights the country's worsening record on civil liberties. The government told the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) last week that it would not renew the mandate of its office in the east African country, effectively expelling the rights monitors. The office was set up in 2006 and has highlighted widespread rights violations including torture, illegal detentions and failure by the state to prosecute offenders. The government said in a letter to OHCHR this month…
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Uganda charges two MPs with murder

Uganda charges two MPs with murder

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDAN prosecutors have charged two lawmakers allied to opposition leader Bobi Wine with the murder of three people, following a spate of unsolved killings that have stoked widespread public alarm. Wine's opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) dismissed the prosecution of the two MPs, Muhammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana, both NUP members, as a politically motivated attempt by authorities to smear the party. Appearing at a court in Masaka town in central Uganda, south of the capital Kampala, the two were charged with the three murders and remanded in prison, Joel Ssenyonyi, a fellow NUP lawmaker and the party's…
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18 Bobi Wine supporters granted bail

18 Bobi Wine supporters granted bail

A Ugandan military court yesterday released on bail 18 supporters of singer-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine detained since the start of the year on charges lawyers and government critics say are politically motivated. "They were granted bail, so for now they have some temporary freedom," their lawyer, George Musisi, told Reuters. The move follows the release on May 25 of a first batch of 17 activists from a group of 35 originally detained on Dec. 30 for violating COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. They were subsequently charged in a military court with weapons offences, even though all the accused are civilians. Wine,…
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17 Ugandan activists, freed

17 Ugandan activists, freed

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA A Ugandan court released on bail 17 of 35 opposition activists detained since the start of the year in what activists have described as a crackdown on dissent linked to a January election. The group, all supporters of singer-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine, were originally detained on December 30 for violating COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. When a civilian court ordered their release, their case was transferred to a military court, where they then faced firearms charges after police said they found four bullets at the home of one of the 32 men. Andrew Gutti, head of the military court,…
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Uganda urged to end abductions

Uganda urged to end abductions

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA should stop the abductions of opposition supporters and release those illegally detained, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, adding to pressure on President Yoweri Museveni to end a crackdown on dissidents. In recent months, hundreds of supporters of opposition leader and pop star Bobi Wine have been seized and some tortured by state agents, according to his National Unity Platform (NUP). Wine, 39, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, lost to Museveni in a Jan. 14 presidential election marred by widespread violence. He rejected the results, claiming he won. This week, he urged supporters to…
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