from HASSAN ONYANGO in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda Bureau
KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – TIES between Uganda and the United States (US) appear headed for friction following last month’s controversial elections, Uganda army commander accused of perpetrating rights violations and accusations of America interfering.
Emotions have run high since this past weekend, with Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Chief of Defence Forces (UPDF), posting some utterances that have since been deleted online.
Always trigger-happy and seemingly ever reckless online, he has since apologised to “our great friends” the United States for those tweets.
“I was being fed with wrong information,” he said without specifying.
“I have spoken with the US Ambassador to our country and everything is okay. We are going to continue our military cooperation as usual.”
However, the posts could not go unnoticed, with Sen. Jim Risch, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, issuing a sharp response.
Risch said the commander had “crossed a red line” and now the US must reevaluate its security partnership, which includes sanctions, and military cooperation with Uganda.
“The president’s son, and likely successor, cannot just delete tweets and issue hollow apologies,” Risch said.
Kainerugaba (51) is President Yoweri Museveni’s eldest child. Museveni (81), and wife Janet, a cabinet minister, are reportedly grooming him for the presidency.
“The US will not tolerate this level of instability and recklessness when American personnel, US interests, and innocent lives in the region are at stake,” Risch stated.
Museveni, in power since 1986, was elected last month in an election critics argue was rigged.
There was a crackdown against the opposition, which has continued beyond the polls.
Bobi Wine (43), main opposition leader, has gone into hiding and reports that in her absence, uniformed forces raided his home and abused his family.
Wine reports that his two deputies for Western and Northern Uganda are still missing, having been abducted by the military on January 14th and 15th, respectively.
“Apparently Museveni’s son has ordered the military not to produce them before court or return them to their families until he says so,” he said.
“This is the state of Uganda in 2026. The world must not look on as these shocking atrocities persist.”
There allegations the US Embassy in Kampala assisted Wine into hiding.
The run-in between the army commander and the US has elicited mixed feelings in Uganda.
Kamoga Munawa said, “People live in fear. Minors and innocent people are languishing in jails. The leader of opposition Bobi Wine is in hiding with his wife attacked and undressed at gunpoint by this one son of the authoritarian ruler Museveni.”
Others accused America of double standards.
“When you say ‘red line’, remember this: Museveni crossed every line decades ago elections stolen, people disappeared, opposition crushed while your governments kept funding him,” said Aiden Kaliisa
“We don’t want foreign intervention. We want foreign complicity to end. Stop paying for our repression and calling it stability.” Kaliisa responded.
Andrew Mwenda, said threats of sanctions against Kainerugaba by the office of the chairman of the foreign relations committee of the US had become increasingly “nauseating.”
“They seem driven by a deliberate and sustained desire to find some fault and get even with Gen Muhoozi,” he said.
Mwenda argued Uganda’s internal politics need to be left to Ugandans and through their constant disagreements, political struggles, negotiations and compromises, Ugandans shall find their way.
“The involvement of foreign actors undermines this internal play for political forces and turns our country into a playground for foreign interests,” – he added.
– CAJ News