Ugandan opposition leader and singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine looks on after his arrival to address Ugandans living in South Africa on political issues in their home country, at the sports ground in Germiston, southeast of Johannesburg, South Africa, October 3, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ugandan opposition leader and pop singer Bobi Wine said on Friday he plans to run for president for a second time and criticised the West for not speaking out more against "gross human rights violations" in the country.
Wine, 43, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, will be challenging long-serving President Yoweri Museveni, 80, who is widely expected to seek re-election.
"Yeah, I've expressed my availability on behalf of my team," Wine said in an interview with Reuters when asked whether he would stand again in the east African country's next presidential election, due in January.
Participation in the election, he said, will also be "a fighting opportunity to further undress and expose the regime and to further galvanise the people of Uganda to rise up and free themselves."
Wine came second in the last election in 2021 but rejected the outcome, alleging ballot staffing, falsification of results, beatings and intimidation by soldiers and other irregularities.
Government and electoral officials denied the accusations.
Wine criticised Western governments for not denouncing what he said were escalating human rights violations, including abductions, illegal detention and torture of his supporters and officials. Wine did not single out any country for criticism.
"Some leaders in the West are complicit in our suffering. They are here to crack their (business) deals and they don't care about human rights," he said.
"If they were standing for the values that they profess, then they would be castigating all these gross human rights violations."
Uganda is considered by the West as an ally in the fight against jihadists and has deployed troops in Somalia.
Uganda's justice minister said this week that Eddie Mutwe, an activist in Wine's National Unity Platform (NUP) party, who also doubles as his personal body guard, appeared to have been tortured while in captivity.
Museveni's son and head of the military, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said he had kept him in his basement and that he was using him as a punching bag.
After missing for a week Mutwe was on Monday produced in court, charged with robbery and remanded.
Wine said Mutwe told him he had been electrocuted, waterboarded and beaten.
Police spokesman Rusoke Kituma did not respond to a Reuters call for comment on the allegations. Reuters contacted a spokesperson for Uganda's defence forces seeking comment from Kainerugaba. He did not respond.
Wine said that if was elected, his priorities would include restoration of political and civil rights and a crackdown on corruption.
(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Editing by George Obulutsa, Ammu Kannampilly and Timothy Heritage)
