Attorney fears for safety of Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine after army chief threats

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — An attorney for Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine on Friday urged the international community "to demand immediate, verifiable guarantees" of Wine's safety after repeated threats by the army chief.

Robert Amsterdam said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, feels threatened by the "reckless statements” of Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Ugandan president's son and presumptive heir.

Wine is the most prominent of seven candidates who ran against President Yoweri Museveni in last week's election. Museveni took 71.6% of the vote while Wine, his closest challenger who leads the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, took 24.7%, according to official results that Wine rejected as fake.

In a televised speech on Sunday, Museveni accused the opposition of trying to foment violence during voting.

His son Kainerugaba often tweets wildly and usually offensively, and Wine has been a target in recent days. He has called Wine a “baboon” and a “terrorist” in recent posts on social platform X.

On Thursday, he said over 2,000 of Wine's supporters had been detained.

Kainerugaba, who has served as Uganda's army chief since 2024, often deletes many of his posts, leading many Ugandans to question his judgment. Others wonder if he is to be taken seriously at all.

But his recent attacks on Wine are alarming because the opposition figure says he is in hiding, fearing for his safety.

“So far we have killed 30 NUP terrorists,” Kainerugaba tweeted on Thursday, without giving details of how and where those people were killed. “My orders stand with the force of the Commander-in-Chief of the State.”

Ugandan police on Thursday detained one of Wine's key allies, accusing him of participating in bouts of violence in a remote part of central Uganda during and after voting.

Muwanga Kivumbi, a lawmaker who is a deputy president of Wine’s party, was charged with terrorism on Friday for his alleged role in violence in his constituency that left seven people dead. He denies the charges.

While police say Wine has not committed a crime and is not wanted, multiple tweets by Kainerugaba suggest the military is looking for him. “Most NUP terrorist leaders are in hiding. We shall get them all,” Kainerugaba tweeted on Friday.

In his statement, attorney Amsterdam said Kainerugaba should be taken seriously because he's Uganda's top military officer.

“His statements therefore carry the weight of state power and have operational significance, and they materially elevate the risk of unlawful harm,” he said. “Under international law, such threats trigger immediate obligations on the part of the Ugandan government to prevent violence, protect life and ensure the safety of those at risk.”

He urged the international community, including the United Nations, to seek assurances from the Ugandan government that Wine will not be harmed.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged “restraint by all actors and respect for the rule of law and Uganda’s international human rights obligations."

Uganda’s election was marred by a dayslong internet shutdown and the failure of biometric voter identification machines that caused delays in the start of voting in areas including Kampala, the capital. Wine has also alleged that ballot boxes were stuffed in some areas seen as Museveni’s strongholds.

The security forces were a constant presence throughout the campaign. Wine said that authorities followed him and harassed his supporters, often using tear gas against them. He campaigned in a flak jacket and helmet because of security fears.

Museveni, 81, will now serve a seventh term that would bring him closer to five decades in power.

His supporters credit him for the relative peace and stability that makes Uganda home to hundreds of thousands fleeing violence elsewhere in the region. But he hasn’t said when he will retire, and he has no rivals in the upper ranks of his party, known as the National Resistance Movement.

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