Uganda

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Long-time leader Yoweri Museveni took an early lead in Uganda’s presidential election according to preliminary results on Friday, though his main rival said there had been widespread fraud and his supporters had the right to protest.

With 29.4% of votes from Thursday’s ballot counted, Museveni had won 1,852,263 votes, or 63.9%, while main opposition candidate Bobi Wine had 821,874 (28.4%), the electoral commission said just after 11 a.m. (0800 GMT).

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan presidential candidate and pop star, Bobi Wine, who is seeking to replace long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, was arrested on Wednesday while campaigning in the east of the country, he said on Twitter.

In two tweets, Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said police had violently broken into his vehicle and taken him into custody.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The price of freedom is high but we shall certainly overcome,” Wine, 38, said in one of the tweets.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine was arrested on Tuesday after handing in his nomination papers to the election body, his party’s spokesman said.

Wine, 38, a musician turned politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, aims to end Yoweri Museveni’s more than a third of a century in power, which makes him Africa’s third longest-ruling president. Elections are scheduled for February next year.

KAMPALA, June 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) –Uganda’s Agriculture ministry has received donations of 20 tons of pesticides, sprayers and protective gear from the Chinese government to help in fighting locusts.

Uganda had asked the government of the People’s Republic of China for support to fight the invasive pests. Vincent Ssempijja, the Agriculture minister, in a statement applauded the Chinese government for responding to their call for support.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan medical workers say they lack adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for tackling COVID-19 and the risk of infection is making some reluctant to treat patients.

The complaints follow revelations on Sunday that seven health workers including two doctors and two nurses had contracted the virus.

So far the east African nation has 507 cases of COVID-19 with no deaths.

KAMPALA, May 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says, the government has injected 1 trillion shillings (about US$270 million) into the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) to boost industrialization.

Museveni, according to a State House statement issued here, said the US$270 million is part of the US$491.5 million that Uganda borrowed from the International Monetary Fund early this month to address the “urgent balance of payments and fiscal needs” arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

KIGALI, May 16 (NNN-Xinhua) — Uganda is set to release 170 Rwandans who have been under its detention, Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said at a press conference.

It is “an important step” towards the implementation of the Luanda Agreements, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last year for normalizing bilateral relations, said the minister.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Burundi is pushing ahead with an election on Wednesday that will end the president’s divisive and bloody 15-year rule.

When President Pierre Nkurunziza hands over power, it could be the first truly peaceful transfer of authority in the East African nation since independence in 1962.

KAMPALA, May 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Uganda began to loosen one of Africa’s strictest anti-coronavirus lockdowns after President Yoweri Museveni declared the infection “tamed.”

The country of 42 million reported 97 confirmed cases and no deaths in 45 days of restrictions, and Museveni said it was now better equipped to trace and detect new infections faster.

“We have somehow tamed the virus,” Museveni said in a televised address.

“It is high time we … start slowly and carefully to open up, but without undoing our achievements.”

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — African leaders are asking what China can do for them as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to destroy economies and wipe out some 20 million jobs across a continent where Beijing is both the top trading partner and top lender.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have announced immediate relief measures, including freeing up billions in debt payments and expectations for help from China are high across resource-rich Africa, but Beijing has remained silent.