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It’s election day in #Uganda tomorrow and 76-year old Yoweri Museveni, in power for 35 years, is facing off against 38-year old rapper turned lawmaker, Bobi Wine. If you haven’t been paying attention, this is an important vote for the continent. (THREAD): https://www.wsj.com/articles/aging-strongman-faces-youthful-musician-bobi-wine-in-battle-for-ugandas-future-11610466463?reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter
The contest embodies a generational clash across Africa, the world's youngest and fastest growing continent where the median age is under 20, where entrenched older leaders are grappling with increasingly restless youthful populations demanding improved economic opportunities.
Those dynamics have been supercharged by COVID-19, and are part of both candidates' campaigns: Museveni disparagingly calls Wine, “my grandson.” Wine taunts the president as “an aging dictator,” who should leave power to avoid the fate of Mugabe or Gaddafi.
Similar battles have been playing out across the continent.Youth-led protests have ousted Sudan’s 77 year-old President and Mali’s 75 year-old leader. In Nigeria,youth-led protests against police brutality plunged Africa’s most populous nation into its worst violence in decades
In Uganda, the election has sparked the worst political violence i for decades, with 50 people killed by government forces. Diplomats & rights groups have warned of protracted clashes in the wake of a campaign that has seen the jailing of lawyers and prosecution election monitors
President Museveni, who is ahead in the polls, has already declared victory, but his government’s response suggests he is far from secure.
In a pattern we're increasingly seeing across Africa—particularly in countries with governments closely allied to China—Museveni has switched off all social media, citing national security concerns. VPNs have been blocked. If you’re in Uganda, you likely can’t read this...
Museveni has also redeployed units of battle-hardened troops who have been fighting Al-Shabaab in Somalia to Kampala, with orders to crack down on any postelection protests.
Geopolitics could be a significant factor if there is a crackdown; Museveni has for decades pivoted between alliances with the erstwhile Communist bloc, the West and more recently, China, with which he has hugely increased security and surveillance cooperation.
China has important economic and security interests in Uganda. We revealed in 2019 that technicians from Huawei helped Museveni's government spy on political opponents, including hacking Wine's phone. Read that story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-technicians-helped-african-governments-spy-on-political-opponents-11565793017
Museveni has said that Wine is an agent of foreign influence, backed by “Western elements,” especially Europeans from countries he declines to specify.
Wine is also trying to internationalize the election by garnering support from the West. Last week, police hauled him from a vehicle as he told a press conference he had petitioned the International Criminal Court for an investigation into rights abuses in Uganda.
All is to say that what happens in Uganda tomorrow will reverberate across the continent, and beyond. Pay attention. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/aging-strongman-faces-youthful-musician-bobi-wine-in-battle-for-ugandas-future-11610466463
