Ugandan police on Monday arrested 29 alleged members of a suspected newly formed rebel group they say is seeking to topple the government of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni.
Police said the group, called the Uganda Coalition for Change (UCFC), had established training camps in central Uganda and were behind attacks on police personnel this month that left at least four of them dead.
The suspects “attended training in weapons and military drills at the UCFC rebel camps”, police said.
“They joined the rebel group with plans of overthrowing the sitting government,” the statement said.
According to the police, the detained suspects said they were motivated to join the group by the outcome of January’s election and warned unnamed politicians over what it called plans to “bring about societal collapse and lead to an uprising or civil war”.
Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine lost to Museveni in January’s presidential election. He rejected the results, alleging widespread malpractices and violence against his supporters.
The pop star and opposition leader who has a stronghold in Central Uganda has not advocated violence and has said his supporters should only use constitutional means to reclaim what he said was their stolen victory.
The government has been accused by rights groups and the opposition of continuing to harass and detain Wine’s supporters even after the polls. Two lawmakers from Wine’s party are in detention over murder charges that the party said are trumped up.
