Uganda’s Bobi Wine says his bodyguard was “deliberately” run over and killed

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“I regret announcing the murder of my security team member Francis Senteza Kalibala also known as Frank. He was deliberately hit by a military police truck,” wrote Wine, a pop musician turned politician. Twitter.

A Ugandan army spokesman denied that Wine’s bodyguard had been attacked.

“The UPDF (Ugandan People’s Defense Force) would like to clarify that the late Senteza … was not hit by a military police vehicle as intended, but fell from a car at full speed … try to jump out, “Brig. General Flavia Byekwaso’s spokeswoman wrote on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

Wine said the incident happened while his team was taking local journalist Ashraf Kasirye to seek medical help after police were injured.

“It’s in a critical state,” Wine said wrote on Twitter of Kasirye’s injury. “We hope against the hope that he lives.”

Police spokesman Fred Enanga told Reuters that Wine supporters had gathered on Sunday in Masaka, 125 kilometers (78 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala.

Wine tweeted that he had attended a church service in the city.

Bobi Wine calls on the United States to hold Uganda accountable for human rights, saying he died almost twice

Enanga said Wine supporters were “violent,” but did not give further details about what they were doing.

“Teargas was used to quell the violence. Journalists were sadly caught during the process of dispersing the violent group,” Enanga said in an online statement, adding that the circumstances were being investigated.

Enanga told Reuters that Kasirye suffered a serious wound above his left eye “allegedly from a (tear) container”.

In an interview with CNN earlier this month, Wine said he had been nearly killed twice in recent weeks and called on the international community to hold the Ugandan government accountable ahead of next month’s election.

Wine also accused the military of taking over the election process and said his campaign team had been gassed with tears and shot with live bullets.

Bobi Wine says police shot through the window of his vehicle while trying to pass a roadblock on Dec. 1.
Wine is challenging incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for more than 30 years, in the Jan. 14 election. The musician has accused Museveni of being a dictator responsible for human rights abuses, after at least 45 people were killed in protests last month sparked by Wine’s arrest for violating Covid-19 regulations at a campaign rally.

Although authorities have said the restrictions are necessary to curb the spread of Covid-19, members of the opposition and their supporters say they are an excuse to curb the campaign ahead of the election.

Witnesses then told CNN that police, military and plainclothes men fired high-caliber rifles at dense urban areas to quell protests. These accounts had a backup of several videos shared on social media during the chaos.

Additional Reuters reports.

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