KAMPALA: Uganda’s authoritarian leader, who has been in power since 1986, was confirmed on Tuesday as a candidate in January’s presidential vote and urged supporters to back his vision for the future.
Electoral officials formally declared President Yoweri Museveni a candidate at an event just outside of Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after more than 2 million supporters signed on to back his bid, according to his party.
Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement controls the national assembly, which is widely seen as weak and subservient to the presidency. In 2017 lawmakers removed a constitutional age limit on the presidency, leaving room for Museveni, now 81, to run for as long as he wishes.
Museveni told supporters after he was officially nominated that his goal is “to convince the people of Uganda of what has been achieved in the past and what we are planning to do now.”
Attracting more foreign investors into the east African country is a priority, he said.
Hundreds were gathering at ceremonial grounds in Kampala to celebrate the nomination later on Tuesday.
Museveni first took power by force and remained unelected until 1996. Elections since 2001 have been marred by allegations of rigging and interference by the military, now led by Museveni’s son.
Museveni’s main political opponent, Bobi Wine, is a popular entertainer whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu. He is scheduled to be nominated later this week.
In the 2021 election, Wine secured 35 percent of the vote, while Museveni, with 58 percent, posted his worst-ever result, establishing Wine as the president’s most potent challenger in decades. Wine alleged his victory was stolen through widespread ballot stuffing and other malpractices.
Electoral authorities denied the allegations.
The January vote is expected to reprise the contest between the two. Museveni dismisses his opponent as an agent of foreign interests and has questioned his patriotism.
Yet Wine has a large following among working-class people in urban areas, and his party has the most seats of any opposition party in the national assembly.
Museveni has been campaigning in recent days in Kampala as he tries to bolster his chances among people likely to support Wine, urban residents often without a reliable source of income who hope for a change of government.
Uganda has the second-youngest population in the world, with more than three quarters of its people below the age of 35, according to the UN children’s agency. It is one of at least four African nations that have agreed to receive migrants deported from the United States.
Uganda’s authoritarian president, in power since 1986, is running for reelection
https://arab.news/m6s3u
Uganda’s authoritarian president, in power since 1986, is running for reelection
- Electoral officials formally declared President Yoweri Museveni a candidate at an event just outside of Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after more than 2 million supporters signed on to back his bid, according to his party
Australia to toughen gun laws as it mourns deadly Bondi attack
- Footage showed one man, identified by local media as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed, grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of leaders of Australia’s states and territories in response on Monday, agreeing with them “to strengthen gun laws across the nation”
SYDNEY: Australia’s leaders have agreed to toughen gun laws after attackers killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, the worst mass shooting in decades decried as antisemitic “terrorism” by authorities.
Dozens fled in panic as a father and son fired into crowds packing the Sydney beach for the start of Hanukkah on Sunday evening.
A 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi were among those killed, while 42 others were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of leaders of Australia’s states and territories in response on Monday, agreeing with them “to strengthen gun laws across the nation.”
Albanese’s office said they agreed to explore ways to improve background checks for firearm owners, bar non-nationals from obtaining gun licenses and limit the types of weapons that are legal.
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the town of Port Arthur in 1996, which led to sweeping reforms long seen as a gold standard worldwide.
Those included a gun buyback scheme, a national firearms register and a crackdown on ownership of semi-automatic weapons.
But Sunday’s shooting has raised fresh questions about how the two suspects — who public broadcaster ABC reported had possible links to the Daesh group — obtained the guns.
- ‘An act of pure evil’ -
Police are still unraveling what drove Sunday’s attack, although authorities have said it targeted Jews.
Albanese called it “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores.”
A string of antisemitic attacks has spread fear among Australia’s Jewish communities after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The Australian government this year accused Iran of orchestrating a recent wave of antisemitic attacks and expelled Tehran’s ambassador nearly four months ago.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia’s government of “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism” in the months before the shooting, referring to Canberra’s announcement that it would recognize Palestinian statehood in August.
Other world leaders expressed revulsion, with US President Donald Trump condemning the “antisemitic attack.”
The gunmen opened fire on an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark Hanukkah.
They took aim from a raised boardwalk at a beach packed with swimmers cooling off on the steamy summer evening.
Witness Beatrice was celebrating her birthday and had just blown out the candles when the shooting started.
“We thought it was fireworks,” she told AFP. “We’re just feeling lucky we’re all safe.”
Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach with bullets for 10 minutes before police shot and killed the 50-year-old father.
The 24-year-old son was arrested and remains under guard in hospital with serious injuries.
Australian media named the suspects as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram.
Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, said the father arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998 and had become a permanent resident. The son was an Australia-born citizen.
Hours after the shooting, police found a homemade bomb in a car parked close to the beach, saying the “improvised explosive device” had likely been planted by the pair.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel said his brother-in-law was among the dead.
“We need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want.”
Wary of reprisals, police have so far avoided questions about the attackers’ religion or ideological motivations.
Misinformation spread quickly online after the attacks, some of it targeting immigrants and the Muslim community.
Police said they responded to reports on Monday of several pig heads left at a Muslim cemetery in southwestern Sydney.
- Panic and bravery -
A brave few dashed toward the beach as the shooting unfolded, wading through fleeing crowds to rescue children, treat the injured and confront the gunmen.
Footage showed one man, identified by local media as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed, grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired.
The 43-year-old wrestled the gun out of the attacker’s hands, before pointing the weapon at him as he backed away.
A team of off-duty lifeguards sprinted across the sand to drag children to safety.
“The team ran out under fire to try and clear children from the playground while the gunmen were firing,” said Steven Pearce from Surf Life Saving New South Wales.
Bleeding victims were carried across the beach atop surfboards turned into makeshift stretchers.
On Monday evening, a flower memorial next to Bondi Beach swelled in size as mourners gathered.
Hundreds, including members of the Jewish community, sang songs, clapped and held each other.
Leading a ceremony to light a menorah candle, a rabbi told the crowd: “The only strength we have is if we bring light into the world.”
