The Ugandan army has abducted hundreds of opposition activists

THE SOLDIERS came for him a week before the election in January. He says they smashed open his door with a hammer, threw a hood over his head, then bundled him into a waiting minibus. Michael (not his real name) spent the next six weeks in detention, mostly in a cell beneath the headquarters of Uganda’s military intelligence service. “Do you know that this country has its owners?” soldiers allegedly told Michael, while beating him with gun butts and sticks.

Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, certainly acts as though he owns it. The former rebel admits that the army has “arrested” more than 300 civilians in recent months. Most of them, including Michael, are supporters of Bobi Wine (pictured), a pop star and politician who was the leading opposition candidate in the election. They are typically held for long periods before being charged, without access to their lawyers. Many say they were tortured. Others have gone missing altogether: Mr Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), says it has a list of more than 600 activists who have disappeared.