KAMPALA, (Reuters) – Ugandan opposition groups expressed outrage yesterday after the country’s police chief was quoted in a local newspaper telling a civilian anti-crime force to prepare for “war” after next month’s presidential vote.
The police denied the commanding officer had made the remarks.
President Yoweri Museveni, a former guerrilla fighter who has led Uganda since 1986, is facing his most formidable contest in years ahead of the Feb. 18 vote, which will see him face off against his former prime minister, Amama Mbabazi, and longtime opposition figure Kizza Besigye.Rights groups have long accused Museveni’s government of using illegal arrests and beatings by security personnel to intimidate opposition supporters, while critics say he has rigged past elections.
The government has steadfastly denied such charges. In a meeting with “crime preventers”, a volunteer force recruited and managed by police and whose members have been accused of carrying out assaults against government critics, police chief Kale Kayihura said the group should be prepared to defend against election rigging by the opposition.
“We shall not hand over power to the opposition to destabilize the peace which we fought for,” Kayihura told a group of crime preventers, according to The Observer newspaper.
