Foreign powers want end to Museveni stay - Besigye

Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye addressing a rally at Odravu, Yumbe District. PHOTO BY ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUJONGI

What you need to know:

Stability. According to the FDC presidential candidate, foreign powers believe Mr Museveni’s over stay in power will create instability in the country.

Westnile. Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye yesterday said an unnamed group of international players have now joined the ranks of those who believe that the stability of Uganda depends on President Museveni leaving power.

Mr Museveni, 30 years in power next month, is seeking his fifth elected term and has been challenged by Dr Besigye, his former bush war colleague, for now four times.
“Even the foreigners all over the world now think that Museveni has stayed for too long and he is going to cause problems once he stays on,” Dr Besigye said at Odravu, Yumbe District. “So they are now working to ensure that Museveni goes.”

Dr Besigye, however, did not say which foreigners he was referring to. In late October, shortly before the nomination of presidential candidates, Dr Besigye and former prime minister Amama Mbabazi held meetings in London organised by the Kofi Annan Foundation with the view of agreeing who of them would hold the joint Opposition flag in this election.
The talks, in which Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, also played a part, failed and both men are running in the election.

It is not clear whether the participation of these key international figures in what the ruling party insists is Uganda’s internal affairs had the backing of key international figures.
As the debate on who between Mr Mbabazi and Dr Besigye would hold the Opposition flag raged, suggestions were made that Dr Besigye had lost the backing of key donors and other global players in favour of Mr Mbabazi. Dr Besigye rejected this view, saying he still enjoys the goodwill of key international actors.

Mr Museveni, however, still wields considerable sway in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa where foreign powers like the US and some of its European allies view him as a partner in the war against terror and a central figure in diverse conflict resolution efforts across the regions.
Under Mr Museveni, Uganda has also been an enthusiastic contributor of large numbers of troops to peace enforcement operations in Somalia and South Sudan.
Uganda, with the backing of the international community, will, beginning this week, also host talks aimed at resolving the crisis which has claimed hundreds of lives in Burundi.

Yumbe is one of the eight districts of West Nile, a sub-region which Dr Besigye’s strategists consider is there for the taking. Dr Besigye won in many parts of West Nile when he first stood against Mr Museveni in 2001, but the latter has since gained support in the area.
In the 2011 elections, Dr Besigye polled 31 per cent of the 511,061 votes cast in West Nile against Mr Museveni’s 56 per cent.
One issue Dr Besigye suspects has swayed some of his former supporters to Mr Museveni’s side is the despondency resulting from the last three attempts in which he says Mr Museveni denied him victory.

At every rally he has addressed in West Nile so far, just like it was in Acholi earlier, Dr Besigye starts by explaining the “delay” in defeating Mr Museveni, saying: “removing a military dictator is not a one-day job”.
In a sub-region that has a number of ex-servicemen, including those who served under Idi Amin, Dr Besigye has promised to settle their retirement benefits, and to also cater for other retirees.
The FDC candidate was the only presidential aspirant to celebrate Christmas on the campaign trail, marking his in Moyo. He attended Mass in a Catholic church and later a service at an Anglican one.