Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine warns of protests if polls rigged

Opposition leader and presidential candidate for the National Unity Platform (NUP) Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine (C), waves a Ugandan flag atop a car as he is welcomed by a crowd of supporters during a campaign rally in Mukono on January 9, 2026, ahead of the 2026 Ugandan general elections. [AFP]

Uganda's opposition leader told AFP on Monday that he would call for protests if President Yoweri Museveni rigs this week's election and said he would welcome an intervention by the United States.

More than 20 million people are registered to vote in the east African country on Thursday, with 81-year-old Museveni widely expected to continue his four-decade rule thanks to his near-total control of the state and security apparatus.

His main opponent is singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 43 -- real name Robert Kyagulanyi -- who is taking a second run at the presidency after his 2021 campaign was met with violent repression and alleged rigging.

"If General Museveni rigs the election, we shall call for protests," Wine told AFP at his home in the capital Kampala.

"We've told the people not to wait for our instruction," he added.

The United Nations and Amnesty International are among the watchdogs accusing Uganda's government of repression ahead of the polls, including hundreds of arrests of Wine's supporters.

There has been increasing political unrest across east Africa as the region's youthful population protests the erosion of democracy and lack of jobs in Kenya, Tanzania and beyond.

Wine acknowledged that protests were likely to provoke more crackdown.

"I know that General Museveni's government responds to everything with violence... But I also know that even violent regimes get thrown out by protests," he told AFP.

"We did not promise comfort. We did not promise that they will not unleash violence upon us. But we have insisted that our people must be non-violent because we know non-violence defeats violence."

Asked if he would welcome a direct intervention by the US, such as seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Wine said: "Yeah. I would."

"I believe that any assistance that comes our way is helpful. However, that assistance should not be to take over our country," he said.

"I firmly believe that the responsibility to liberate our country, to govern our country, and to move it forward, lies entirely with the people of Uganda."