{"id":282675,"date":"2011-02-26T11:12:09","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T11:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/02\/26\/uganda%e2%80%99s-museveni-celebrates-poll-victory-amid-tension\/"},"modified":"2011-02-26T11:12:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T11:12:09","slug":"ugandas-museveni-celebrates-poll-victory-amid-tension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ugandas-museveni-celebrates-poll-victory-amid-tension\/","title":{"rendered":"Uganda\u2019s Museveni celebrates poll victory, amid tension"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Kampala \u2013 Ugandans cheering skywards as a yellow plane circles and blares out President
Yoweri Museveni\u2019s popular rap single are sure an opposition call to protest against his election win is ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of supporters of one of Africa\u2019s longest-serving leaders streamed into an airstrip in the capital, Kampala, on Friday to celebrate his disputed poll victory.<\/p>\n

Uganda, and especially Kampala, has been flung into uncertainty by a call for peaceful protests from Museveni\u2019s main rival, Kizza Besigye, who polled just 26 per cent of the vote against the 25-year veteran leader\u2019s 68 per cent.<\/p>\n

The victory rally took place amid heavy security a day after Besigye made the call, flanked by two other opposition leaders.<\/p>\n

But protests have yet to erupt and some analysts think Besigye is losing momentum. Others say protests, unlikely to remain peaceful, may break out.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtests are a stupid idea. Museveni won the election and now Besigye wants what? War?\u201d Joshua Mugarura, 27, said, wearing a T-shirt depicting Museveni, 67, as U.S. action hero Rambo.<\/p>\n

Besigye, who has repeatedly said Uganda is ripe for a North African-style uprising, says last week\u2019s presidential and parliamentary polls should be rerun because of alleged widespread bribery, ballot stuffing and intimidation.<\/p>\n

The plane flying around Kampala, playing the rap single Museveni released to appeal to the young electorate, is indicative, critics say, of the biggest election campaign spending in Ugandan history.<\/p>\n

Although European Union observers, the U.S. and Britain have pointed out flaws, they have not cast doubt on Museveni\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

Still, Museveni\u2019s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) was taking no chances and heavily armed solders, riot police and the much-feared \u201cred beret\u201d military police patrolled in huge numbers on foot and in trucks around the capital.<\/p>\n

Museveni used the rally on Friday to warn against what would be sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s first anti-government protests since the uprisings that have spread through the north of the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey talk rubbish about Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but none of those leaders spent 13 years fighting,\u201d he told the cheering crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can I fail to defend the unity of the people of Uganda? If you come threatening, I will deal with you decisively and you will never rise again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will catch him and eat him like a cake,\u201d he added, referring to Besigye.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cSeveral motorbike taxi drivers, notorious for past involvement in political riots, said they would join protests if they started. Many promised they would stay peaceful this time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhy can\u2019t we peacefully protest?,\u201d Besigye supporter Justice Opio, 34, asked as he hurried past the Museveni victory party.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhy are the police saying they will stop it? The right to peacefully protest is protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fear of violence was mentioned all over Kampala by supporters of both men as reason enough for hoping the protests would not happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Museveni is still popular in the countryside for stabilising a country once plagued by civil wars and dictators like Idi Amin, and many Ugandans fear a return of those days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the plane, painted yellow for the NRM, wheeled back into view, Museveni shouted: \u201cDo you want another rap?\u201d, the title of his headline-grabbing venture into music, and launched into yet another rendition of what has become a nightclub staple.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One man at the rally turned to another and asked: \u201cDo you think Besigye can match this?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nUganda\u2019s Museveni celebrates poll victory, amid tension<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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