Uganda army chief boasts of detaining opposition politician
Uganda's powerful army chief on Monday boasted of planning to inflict "hurt and pain" on an opposition politician he has detained, who was preparing to file a legal summons against him.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, posted a photo on X of Erias Lukwago, an opposition politcian and lawyer held by military personnel earlier in the day.
"I'm proud of ALL the hurt and pain I will inflict on the CRIMINAL LUKWAGO!" Kainerugaba posted to his 1.3 million followers on X.
"He keeps saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'. It won't help him now," he wrote alongside the photo of Lukwago, wearing a white t-shirt.
Another photo shows a man dressed identically, against the same background of a tiled wall, with his face covered in a cloth and hands together as if in supplication.
In an earlier post on X, Kainerugaba said he had "captured a fool and taken him to the basement", but did not name Lukwago.
He wrote in another post: "he summoned me?? How do you DARE to utter those words", adding: "this fool will learn the lesson".
'Punching bag'
Lukwago represents one of Museveni's chief critics, Kizza Besigye, who has been in detention facing trial since his abduction from Kenya in 2024.
Besigye has not been tried and his family accuse the Ugandan state of torturing him.
Lukwago was preparing to serve legal papers summoning Kainerugaba -- who has made no secret of his wish to succeed his father -- over Besigye's abduction, according to the People's Front for Freedom (PFF) party.
Early Monday morning, a relative of Lukwago told AFP that "military personnel jumped over the gate and violently bundled him into the van and drove away".
"They didn't tell us where they're taking him," he said.
The army chief is known for his provocative online posts, and has been accused of abducting figures close to the opposition previously.
"This is Amin's regime regenerated through Muhoozi," Lukwago's wife Zawedde Lubwama Lukwago told journalists, a reference to brutal dictator Idi Amin who ruled Uganda in the 1970s.
"My husband is a respected lawyer who has not committed any crime," she said.
Rights activist Agather Atuhaire said the incident showed the "impunity" enjoyed by the authorities.
"Now we have a government that not only breaks the law, commits atrocities like those, but also gloats over them, boasts of committing them," she said.
"In other areas where there's... abuse of the law or anything, at least people hide it, because they know that it's wrong or because they know that there can be consequences."
Last year Kainerugaba posted about kidnapping opposition politician Bobi Wine's security chief, claiming to have used him "as a punching bag".