U.S Calls For Release Of Uganda's Opposition Leader

The United States called for the release of Uganda’s opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, who has been under house arrest since Friday, before President Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner of a presidential election marred by widespread irregularities.

Mr. Museveni won last week’s vote with more than 60 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission; Mr. Besigye had 35 percent.

“We call for his immediate release and the restoration of access to all social media sites,” the State Department said Saturday evening. “Delays in the delivery of voting materials, reports of pre-checked ballots and vote buying” and “excessive use of force by police” had undermined the vote, it said.

“The Ugandan people deserved better.”

Mr. Besigye was arrested Friday after the police stormed his party’s headquarters. He was there tallying votes, which his party said included wins at polling sites in Uganda’s north, in Kampala and in other areas of the country. The election ran smoothly around the countryside, according to electoral observers, but not in Kampala, the capital, where opposition parties get much of their support. Voting there started up to seven hours late because the ballot papers were not available.

Mr. Besigye rejected the electoral commission’s results.

On Sunday, access to social networking sites remained blocked. Equally critical, mobile-money services — the equivalent of using a debit card — also remained blocked.

Both Mr. Besigye, as well as another candidate, Amama Mbabazi, the second-most popular challenger, and until recently the prime minister, remained under effective house arrest. Gen. Katumba Wamala was also said to be under scrutiny, after results showed Mr. Museveni had not performed well at the polls at army barracks. A Uganda army spokesman said soldiers were “free to choose anyone they want.”

“Democracy is on trial,” Mr. Besigye said on Twitter, through a virtual private network.

Everything seemed so different last weekend. In elegant dress and sharp suits, the country’s elite rubbed shoulders and cameras followed candidates on the red carpet, as Ugandans watched their president publicly debate politics for the first time. There were several sharp exchanges, but the historic moment was heralded as metamorphic.

Since then, Mr. Besigye has been arrested four times, and at least two people have been killed and over 20 injured in rioting that the authorities have combated using tear gas and clubs.

“The state can do even more,” President Museveni said, in response to clampdowns on communication. “People who think the state is something to joke, that is just a test.” He also hinted he would be ready to work with Mr. Besigye and Mr. Mbabazi if they returned to his governing party, a sign that mediation from foreign powers could become effective.

As night fell on Sunday, so did the veil on communications, and underneath lay the silenced remains of Thursday’s anguish.

“I wll never vote ag’n,” read a Twitter post from one voter who wrote that Mr. Besigye had 1,256 votes compared with 628 votes for Mr. Museveni at his polling site when the results were tallied Thursday. But the commission had said Mr. Museveni garnered 827 votes and Mr. Besigye 260.

One screenshot posted to Twitter of results suggested that Mr. Museveni had earned 760 votes, compared with just two votes for Mr. Besigye, at a polling station with only 437 registered voters.

A video posted online showed voters at one polling site seemingly voting on torn rips of school notebook paper.

“Voice stolen thru ballot stuffing & cheating,” read a Twitter post from Winnie Byanyima, the wife of Mr. Besigye, a political force herself, and the executive director of the charity Oxfam International.