Uganda’s president calls opponents ‘terrorists’ in victory speech

Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results.

Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout.

The whereabouts of the opposition leader, Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi and who won 25% of the vote, were still uncertain after he said on Saturday that he had escaped a police raid on his home and was in hiding.

Police denied the raid and said Wine was still at home, but they blocked journalists from approaching the residence.

Wine has not posted on social media since Saturday when he denounced the “blatant theft of the presidential election”.

In his victory speech on Sunday, Museveni said Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), had planned to attack polling stations in areas where they were losing.

“Some of the opposition are wrong and also terrorists,” said Museveni, who has ruled the east African country since 1986, when he seized power at the head of a rebel army. “They are working with some foreigners and some homosexual groups.”

He added: “All the traitors – this is free advice from me – stop everything, because we know what you are doing and you will not do it.”

Although some internet coverage was restored late on Saturday, the government said it would maintain a ban on social media platforms until further notice.

The government blocked the internet two days before the vote, saying it was necessary to prevent “misinformation” and “incitement to violence”.

Uganda has remained largely peaceful since the results, though there were small-scale protests late on Saturday, with Agence France-Presse journalists saying teargas was fired in parts of the capital, Kampala.

The security presence was significantly reduced on Sunday, with people out on the streets and shops open.

Analysts say the election was a formality, given Museveni’s total control over the state and security apparatus, though many Ugandans still praise him for bringing relative peace and prosperity.

He has taken no chances in trying to prevent the violent unrest that rocked neighbouring Tanzania during polls in October.

The most serious reports of violence on election day came from the Butambala area of central Uganda, where an opposition MP said security forces had killed at least 10 people at his home.

Museveni echoed the police account, saying the deaths resulted from a planned attack on a ballot-tallying centre and police station in the area. He said the NUP had planned similar attacks “everywhere”.

Human Rights Watch accused the government of “brutal repression” of the opposition ahead of the vote.

Another key opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, who ran four times against Museveni, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and brought back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is ongoing.

African election observers, including a team from the African Union, said on Saturday that “reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions” had “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process”.