KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s army chief accused U.S. Embassy officials of helping opposition leader Bobi Wine as he went into hiding, in an escalation of political tensions that have alarmed Ugandans days after a disputed presidential election.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Yoweri Museveni’s son and presumptive heir, wrote on X that “unimaginative bureaucrats at the Embassy” for years have “undermined” security ties between Uganda and Washington.
Citing intelligence in X posts that he has since deleted, Kainerugaba said on Friday that Wine “kidnapped himself and is missing” while “in coordination with the current administration at the U.S. Embassy in our country.”
The U.S. Embassy didn’t comment.
Wine, whose legal name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was the most prominent of seven candidates who ran against Museveni in the Jan. 15 election. He went into hiding days after voting, saying he feared for his safety. He had campaigned in a flak jacket and helmet for the same reason.
Wine has since posted various videos of himself in different areas of Uganda, lamenting the injustice he says has befallen him and taunting the military for failing to find him. A recent post on X came after a visit to the family graveyard in a remote part of central Uganda.
Kainerugaba said in his latest volley of X posts that Wine was wanted dead or alive, drawing widespread concern from Ugandans who worry that harming Wine risks unrest.
Wine has a large following among young people in urban areas, many of them unemployed or angry with the government over official corruption and the lack of economic opportunities. Many want to see political change after four decades of the same leader.
“We are most certainly hunting Kabobi,” he said, using a derogatory version of the opposition leader’s name. “He is wanted Dead or Alive! It doesn’t matter how long it takes us, we will get him.”
He warned that “foreign powers who attempt to smuggle Kabobi outside the country” face a rupture in relations.
Wine, 43, won 24.7% of the vote in the presidential election, according to official results that he rejects as fake.
Museveni, 81, garnered 71.6% of the vote, and will now serve a seventh term that would bring him closer to five decades in power. His supporters credit him for the relative peace and stability that has made Uganda home to hundreds of thousands fleeing violence elsewhere in this part of Africa.
Wine has said that his ability to evade the army shows that the government isn't as strong as it appears, infuriating Kainerugaba. The military hasn't said what charges Wine is being pursued for, with both the police and the information minister saying that Wine has committed no crime.
“The whole army is looking for one person. It’s now coming to 10 days, but they have failed to find me,” Wine said in a video posted on X on Monday. “That means they are not as strong as they tell you.”
Kainerugaba responded to Wine’s taunts by calling him a coward, a “baboon” and a “terrorist.”
The army chief took responsibility for a Jan. 23 nighttime raid on Wine’s house during which his wife says she was roughed up by soldiers and had to be hospitalized for anxiety and bruises. Kainerugaba denied that Barbara Kyagulanyi was beaten by soldiers, who went searching for Wine at the family home.
Hundreds of Wine’s supporters have been detained for alleged offenses during and after voting, according to police.
One of Wine’s deputies in his National Unity Platform party, Muwanga Kivumbi, has been charged with terrorism over a violent incident in central Uganda while the suspect tried to retain his seat as an opposition lawmaker in Parliament.
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