Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine shot in leg, his party says
Uganda's main
opposition leader Bobi Wine, who has emerged as the most formidable opponent of
veteran President Yoweri Museveni, was shot in the leg by security agents in a
northern suburb of the capital Kampala on Tuesday, his party said.
Wine, a pop star
turned politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, finished runner-up in
the 2021 presidential election behind Museveni, who has ruled the East African
country for nearly four decades.
Wine's party, the
National Unity Platform, said in a post on the X platform that "Security
operatives have made an attempt (on his life)". "He was shot in the
leg and seriously injured."
The police said
officers had attempted to block Wine and his team from marching down a road,
resulting in an altercation where Wine sustained injuries. An investigation
would be conducted to clarify the facts, the police said in a statement on X.
"Police
officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the
injury, whereas Hon. Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot," the
police said.
A video shared
widely on social media showed NUP party officials helping Wine hobble out of
the Najeem Medical Centre in the Bulindo neighbourhood. Wine appeared to have a
bleeding wound on the shin of his left leg and was grimacing in pain.
"We condemn
this cowardly action; yet another attempt on his life. The continuing violence
meted out on those opposed to the Museveni regime must be condemned by all
people of good conscience," NUP party Secretary General David Lewis
Rubongoya wrote on the social media platform X.
Museveni's
government has been accused by opponents and human rights activists of stifling
the opposition, something Museveni denies.
A U.S. State
Department spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday that Washington was
"concerned that violence against opposition voices means the democratic
space continues to shrink in Uganda."
Wine has amassed
huge support amongst the youth in Uganda, a nation of 46 million, with many
wooed initially by his rags-to-riches story as a pop star from the ghetto, and
in recent years by his bold attacks on Museveni's government.
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