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Ugandan politician or musician Bobi Wine has led the opposition to the Ugandan president, who has been in power since 1986. Mr Wine said that soldiers had tortured him, but that he would return to Uganda.
Claire Harbage / NPR
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Claire Harbage / NPR
Ugandan politician or musician Bobi Wine has led the opposition to the Ugandan president, who has been in power since 1986. Mr Wine said that soldiers had tortured him, but that he would return to Uganda.
Claire Harbage / NPR
"I'm supposed to be a dead man," says Bobi Wine, a Ugandan musician turned politician.
His driver Yasin Kawuma was shot dead on August 13th. Wine tweeted a graphic image he said that it was the corpse of the man. Wine says the police shot Kawuma, but Wine says he was their real target.
The real name of Bobi Wine is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu. He became famous as a musician – first with love songs and dance songs, but more recently he turned to political themes in his music. His 2017 song "Freedom" has become a rallying cry for the country's opposition.
The same year, Wine was elected independent deputy of the country.
He has become a leader in his opposition to the country's longtime president, Yoweri Museveni – who has been in power since 1986. Museveni is known to have violently broken dissent. Human Rights Watch says the government "continues to violate the rights of free association, expression and assembly."
"We live in a country where life means nothing," says Wine Simon to Simon Simon of NPR.
Wine entered NPR's offices in Washington, DC this week. He walked with a crutch. "I feel pain in the back, in the shoulders, in various parts of my body, but my mind is high and I do not think about pain anymore," he says.
He was arrested in mid-August after clashes between opposition supporters and ruling party supporters in Uganda. Security forces accused Wine of fomenting violence and arrested him. According to Amnesty International, Wine was later released and was quickly arrested and charged with treason with 33 others.
Wine said security forces beat and tortured him severely. He wrote on Facebook that soldiers had broken the door of a hotel room where he had locked himself up and had beaten him with an iron bar and then had him dragged into a vehicle and continued to beat him.
Wine told NPR that it was the soldiers of the special forces command, a group guarding the president, who "hit me, beat me everywhere, and did despicable things." They squeezed my testicles, they hit me with my head again and hit me so hard at the back of my head until I was unconscious. "
Ugandan security minister General Elly Tumwine told The Washington Post that Wine and other people "fought with those who arrested them, and that's what caused their ills" .
Government Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo P & # 39; Odel said in a statement that Wine "is in Ugandan courts for treason and incitement to violence, and arguably his lawyer[s] Bob Amsterdam and others are trying to stall him by using diversionary tactics to raise allegations of torture, even if they are not proven. "
President Museveni described Wine's allegations of torture as "false news".
The wine was finally allowed to leave the country. He came to the United States for medical treatment and held a press conference this week to encourage a halt to US military aid to Uganda.
He talked more about US aid to Uganda and plans to return to the country, despite the risks, with Simon Weekend edition.
Highlights of the interview
Call on the United States to suspend military aid to Uganda
We all want a peaceful region, and the Ugandan army plays a role and the US government plays a role in funding the military. But it is also important for Americans to know, especially the American taxpayer, that the funds they give to the Ugandan military are mainly used to torture Ugandans. I want to emphasize that the weapon that was used to shoot my driver is a US weapon.
Back in Uganda
Yes, I will go back to Uganda. I do not have any other house. Uganda is my home; it is there that I was born and it is there that I will be buried. …
It's dangerous for me, but it's not just for me. There is this woman who comes to have a baby by cesarean section. She was beaten so badly that, even as I left Uganda, she was still bleeding. There is another guy … The doctors told us that he will never be able to walk. There is another woman, I do not know if she is still alive.
So many people – hundreds if not thousands – suffer this torture. So, that can not be about me. I am only humbled and privileged to see that my brutality has caught the attention of the world and I try to use every moment that I still have alive to raise that voice. …
I am supposed to be a dead man. There were only a few seconds left when I left that seat where I was sitting as my driver was shot down. We live in a country where life means nothing.
I'm not sure it's not the last time I'm here or in another country. I have therefore decided to dedicate every piece of my life to raising that voice. …
My children live in Uganda. They are Ugandans. And even when I could get them asylum, there are more than 40 million Ugandans. Eighty-five percent of them are younger than me. I'm 36 years old. And we have a demographic group of over 85% under the age of 35. So there can be no question of my life.
I have already said it and I repeat it: we must recover our freedom and our dignity or we will die while trying.
On its current political objectives
For the moment, we are raising awareness of trust. In times of terror, we do not know what will happen tomorrow. Many of our contemporaries are killed from time to time. So, in Uganda, we live every day as it comes. …
Everyone advises me not to go back. Everyone thinks it's dangerous to go back. But as a person, I can not leave 40 million people in danger. If my life is a sacrifice to be made for the redemption of our country, so be it.
Adelina Lancianese from NPR contributed to this report.
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