Uganda’s Opposition Party Says Leader Bobi Wine Injured
(Bloomberg) -- Uganda’s National Unity Platform, the country’s main opposition party, said its leader Robert Kyagulanyi was shot in the leg on Tuesday in an incident involving the security forces on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala.
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The police denied he had been shot.
The opposition claimed in a statement on X that the pop star-turned politician — who goes by the stage name of Bobi Wine — was shot by “security operatives” and that an attempt had been made on his life.
Disputing that account, the police said they had intervened to prevent Wine and his supporters from embarking on a procession along a public street.
‘He Stumbled’
“During the ensuing altercation, it is alleged that he sustained injuries. Police officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the injury, whereas Hon. Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot,” the police said in a statement. “An investigation will be conducted to clarify the facts.”
A video shared on X by the National Unity Platform showed Wine being picked up from the street by several people and bundled into a car as onlookers recorded what was happening on their mobile phones.
His condition as not clear from the video although he appeared to be conscious. The police said he had been taken to a nearby medical center for treatment.
Fred Nyanzi, Wine’s brother, later said by telephone that he had been transferred to Nsambya Hospital in the capital and was receiving treatment, but was not able to provide an update on his condition.
Bobi Wine was the main challenger to longtime President Yoweri Museveni in 2021 elections marred by violence in which at least 54 people died in the run up to the polls. He was placed under house arrest following the vote, until a High Court judge ruled that the confinement was illegal.
(Updates with opposition comment on Wine being moved to hospital in eighth paragraph.)
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