Ugandan army chief says torturing opposition aide 'in his basement'

KAMPALA: Uganda's main opposition leader, Bobi Wine, said on Friday the army had raided his party's headquarters, hours after the head of the army claimed to have abducted Wine's bodyguard and was torturing him "in his basement".

There has been a mounting crackdown on the opposition ahead of the general election in January and the moves come as Wine was set to launch a "protest vote" campaign.

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is head of the army but also the son and heir-apparent of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, posted on X late on Thursday that Wine's bodyguard, Eddie Mutwe, had been captured "like a grasshopper".

"He is in my basement... You are next," Kainerugaba, known for his notorious posts on X, responded to Wine after the latter said on social media that Mutwe had been abducted.

Kainerugaba also alluded to Mutwe being tortured, saying he had beaten him and shaved his head, adding: "I still have to castrate him". "If they keep on provoking us, we shall discipline them even more," he said of the opposition.

Uganda has faced international condemnation over the abduction of opposition figures, including that of veteran leader Kizza Besigye, who was seized in Kenya last year and forcibly returned to face treason charges.

Wine, a former singer whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has become the leading opponent to Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986. On Friday he said on X that security forces had "just raided and cordoned off our headquarters".

He also condemned the abduction of Mutwe, telling AFP it was "a reminder to the world as to how law and order has broken down in Uganda".

"For Muhoozi to confirm the abduction and illegal detention of Eddie Mutwe and sharing his photos half naked signals to the level of impunity the rogue regime has reached," he added. A police spokesman told AFP he had not been briefed on Mutwe's case.
'Violently abducted'
Uganda is set to hold a general election in January, with Museveni looking to extend his 40-year rule. The last election in 2021 was marred by widespread reports of irregularities and severe violence from the security forces, which Museveni blamed on "indiscipline" and "laziness".

The US-based Holocaust Memorial Museum recently warned of possible "mass atrocities" around the 2026 election. On Sunday, Wine's party, the National Unity Platform, said Mutwe had been "violently abducted" by armed men wearing uniforms associated with the Special Forces Command, an elite unit of Uganda's army.

The NUP said heavily armed security forces had sealed off its headquarters in the capital Kampala prior to Friday's raid. The opposition was planning to use the HQ to launch a campaign to urge Ugandans to vote against the government in the general election and demonstrate to protect their democratic rights.

Kainerugaba is notorious for his unfiltered posts on X. Earlier this year, he threatened to behead Wine and they have sparred repeatedly online. His comments have occasionally drawn Uganda into diplomatic spats. In 2022, Museveni was forced to apologise for posts by his son that appeared to threaten an invasion of Kenya.