Ugandan opposition turns national flag into protest symbol

Hundreds screamed with excitement as Uganda's opposition leader passed by a recent rally, with the crowd waving a sea of national flags -- a dangerously politicised symbol in the run-up to this week's election.

Analysts say it is almost a foregone conclusion that President Yoweri Museveni, 81, will win a seventh term in Thursday's vote, given his near-total control over the state apparatus in the east African country.

But his opponent, 43-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has framed the election as a protest vote and cannily turned the national flag into a symbol of resistance.

Police last month warned against using the flag "casually and inappropriately".

Wine's supporters have faced frequent intimidation by the security forces during the campaign, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office and other observers.

But the flag is "the only weapon we have," said woodworker Conrad Olwenyi, 31, at a Wine rally this week.

"We cannot fight the security, because they have a gun. We only have the flag," he said. But "if they shoot you when you have the flag, they are shooting the country."

Uganda's flag -- created when the country achieved independence from Britain in 1962 -- has stripes of black to represent Africa, yellow for its sunshine, and red to represent African brotherhood, with a grey crowned crane overlaid.

In the 2021 elections, Wine's National Unity Platform (NUP) adopted red berets as a symbol, but the government ruled that was illegal since they were part of the military uniform, and used that ruling to justify raids on the party's offices.

The flag is a clever alternative and a way of "reclaiming patriotism," said Uganda expert Kristof Titeca.

"It's kind of taken the government by surprise, and so that's why they started this clampdown," he told AFP.

Like many countries in east Africa, there are laws governing how the national flag may be used, though these were rarely enforced in Uganda in the past.

"It shows the panic," prominent cartoonist Jimmy Spire Ssentongo told AFP.

"I don't think they are threatened by misuse of the flag. They are threatened by the visibility of the support towards NUP," said Ssentongo, adding that as Museveni ages and nears 40 years in power, "the space for freedom of expression also shrinks".

"Everyone has a right to use the national flag, but it depends on in what context they're using it for. I believe the opposition is politicising it," said Israel Kyarisiima, a national youth co-ordinator for Museveni's National Resistance Movement party.

Security services have repeatedly been accused by Wine's supporters of targeting those carrying the flag at rallies, with the leader urging followers in his Christmas address to "come to the defence of anyone assaulted for carrying the flag".

And the threats from police have not stopped Wine's supporters brandishing the flag at rallies.

"Now we've got something that can really show our unity as Ugandans, and they are trying to make it criminal," said one attendee this week, Ruth Excellent Mirembe, 25, waving a flag.

Trying to stop its use is "oppression in the highest form," she told AFP. "This represents us as Ugandans."