00:00Now, Ugandan voters now have the lineup of candidates for next year's elections and firebrand opposition leader Bobby Wine is amongst them.
00:09Wine is one of incumbent longtime leader Yari Museveni's fiercest critics and was this week cleared to stand against Museveni for a second time.
00:19Now, he'd first tried in 2021 and hundreds of Wine supporters took to the streets in excitement at the idea of him going up against Museveni.
00:28He's been running the country since 1986 and will also be seeking another term next year.
00:34Our East Africa correspondent has more.
00:39Tense atmosphere in Kampala after clashes erupted between police and protesters in the Ugandan capital, but also in other cities across the country.
00:49At the heart of the unrest is Bobby Wine, the opposition leader, musician turned politician and head of the National Unity platform.
00:57He shared footage of the scenes on social media while his party reported that about a dozen activists were arrested.
01:06All deaths came during rallies meant to celebrate the Ugandan Electoral Commission's decision to validate his candidacy in next January's vote.
01:15In Kampala's Natete neighborhood, Wine addressed a crowd of hundreds, maybe even thousands,
01:21mostly young Ugandans gathered, despite authorities' call to avoid political gatherings, officially for security reasons.
01:31In his speech, Bobby Wine urged Ugandans to stand up as he put it against dictator Museveni.
01:37For 40 long years, one man and a small group of his relatives and friends have ruled our country on gunpoint.
01:46They have looted our nation and turned every institution of government into a tool of oppression.
01:53The Ugandan president, who's ruled the country for nearly four decades, also saw his candidacy approved, hardly a surprise.
02:01But with the election not just four months away, critics accuse him of tightening his grip on power through growing authoritarianism and political repression.
02:13Bobby Wine himself has been arrested or placed under house arrest multiple times in recent years.
Comments