Poll win puts Ugandan president Museveni alongside despots

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/26/wuganda26.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/26/ixportal.html

Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, last night joined the ranks of Africa's longest-serving rulers after being declared the official victor of elections marred by claims of unfairness. Final results gave Mr Museveni 59 per cent of the vote, paving the way for him to serve at least another five years on top of the two decades he has already enjoyed in power.

He was able to contest the polls only after scrapping a constitutional rule designed to limit how long one person can spend in office, a move condemned by the West as symptomatic of his increasingly authoritarian tendencies.

Although foreign monitors found no glaring faults in the voting on Thursday, critics observed that the likely length of Mr Museveni's tenure meant he had moved into unenviable company.

The only other African leaders with comparable service have reputations as despots: Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for 19 years, Omar Bongo of Gabon, who has been head of state for 35 years, and the late Mobutu Sese Seko, whose kleptocratic rule over the former Zaire lasted for 32 brutal years.

[EuroObserver]

1. There will hopefully be some grass-roots news out of Uganda

appearing on this in-the-process-of-formation East Africa indymedia site here: http://www.alluta.org/

[MisterP]

2. surprise, surprise, he's a friend of Pinhead*

[AlamoDemoc]

3. my condolences to the Ugandan people...n/t

[robcon]

4. This story says it all...

Uganda's President Lets Challenger Run, Behind Bars
Vanessa Vick for The New York Times

Kizza Besigye campaigned near Kampala on Sunday during free time between court appearances and jail stints on charges many call trumped up.
By MARC LACEY
Published: February 22, 2006

KAMPALA, Uganda, Feb. 21 — "It is never easy to topple a well-financed incumbent president, but Kizza Besigye, a candidate for Uganda's top job, has had an even more challenging time than most.

His rallies have been disrupted by security forces and his appearances on local radio limited by the state. But those are not all of Mr. Besigye's problems.

Soon after announcing his bid to unseat President Yoweri Museveni, Mr. Besigye was jailed on charges of treason and rape, accusations that he, his supporters and some independent legal analysts consider trumped up. He has been forced to wage his campaign — in what is the first multiparty presidential election in Uganda in a quarter-century — between court appearances and jail stints.

"It has been as difficult as they can make it," Mr. Besigye, 49, said the other day, his hands out of handcuffs. He was swarmed by giddy supporters, some wearing mock handcuffs, who see his jailing as one more sign that Mr. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for 20 years, is clinging desperately to power and will do anything to assure his victory in the election on Thursday..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/international/africa/22uganda.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Zynx]

5. This guy sounds like a slightly less brutal Mugabe.