Yoweri Museveni, the dictator in Uganda who has been in power for 35 years and is running for another term in office, used President Donald Trump’s insurrectionists in an interview with CNN to justify the atrocities committed by his government, including killing more than 40 opposition supporters.
He also called gays and lesbians deviants, justifying why they were being targeted and brushing aside daily human rights violations against them.
Museveni told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he did not need lecture from the United States where coronavirus has killed many people.
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The 76-year-old President described the opposition leader 38-year-old Bobi Wine as an insurrectionist leading a mob against the government similar to Trump’s supporters who attacked the United States Capitol on January 6, adding that if insurrection is bad in the United States, it is bad in Uganda.
The interview with CNN was a reminder of the damage President Trump and his supporters have unleashed, and how Trump’s dictatorial tendencies are empowering strong men around the world.
The Ugandan government incurred more outrage early this week for shutting down the internet, just days to the presidential elections, with communications regulator ordering service providers such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to suspend access immediately.
The social media blackout has been widely condemned with the International Press Institute saying “any efforts to block online access to journalists or members of the public are unacceptable breaches of the right to information.”
“Ahead of the Ugandan election, we’re hearing reports that Internet service providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps,” Twitter Pubic Policy tweeted. “We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet,” Twitter Public Policy wrote on Tuesday.
According to Quartz Africa, “Uganda’s Internet network is being slowed down and citizens without VPNs were not able to download apps from Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.”
President Museveni has ruled Uganda since seizing power in 1986 and most Ugandan media outlets are owned by government. This combination has created suspicion that the internet blackout is an effort to silence the opposition, who relies on social media to communicate with their supporters.
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