February 27, 2006: President Yoweri Museveni had been re-elected. This would be Museveni's third term. The vote was held on February 23 and took two days to tabulate. Over seven million votes were cast. The Ugandan government said Museveni won 59 percent of the vote, beating Dr.Kizza Besigye. Besigye, however, "rejected' the results. EU election observers said that the election was free and fair. Museveni wins but then in some ways he does not. Besigye was jailed and harassed prior to the election. Besigye's followers remain angry. Protests began to occur in Uganda, including a major one in Kampala. Besigye's party is named The Forum for Democratic Change. If the name sounds a bit like Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) -- it's no accident. Museveni's critics compare him to Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe. The comparison is a bit unfair-- Mugabe has run Zimbabwe into the ground. Museveni can make a good argument he has stabilized Uganda. But Mugabe is an aging leader who didn't know when the quit. That's what Museveni's critics say he has become. --Austin Bay
February 25, 2006: On February 24 four Ugandan soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack that took place in a market in Kampala. Initially, police reported they were investigating the incident but had no suspects. One civilian was also wounded in the attack. On February 25 a senior police official accused the opposition Forum for Democratic Change of causing the incident. The FDC denied the charge. Police also reported finding a cache of 18 molotov cocktails in a "hidden stockpile." THe Museveni government has been accusing the FDC of planning to "sow trouble" during and after the election. The FDC says that it is dedicated to non-violent political change.
February 23, 2006: The Ugandan military claimed that it had stopped an LRA attack in northern Uganda. Three LRA rebels tried to ambush a vehicle carrying polling materials. (It is election day in Uganda.) A small Ugandan force killed one rebel. The attack took place near the village of Anaka.
