Uganda’s top opposition figure, Bobi Wine, was shot in the leg by the police on Tuesday, his political party said, calling it an escalation of a government campaign of intimidation against a prominent critic who challenged the country’s autocratic leader in a run for the presidency in 2021.
It was not immediately clear whether a bullet or a tear-gas canister was the projectile that had hit Mr. Wine’s leg, Mr. Wine’s international lawyer, Bruce Afran, said in a phone interview. Mr. Afran said that Mr. Wine’s wound does not appear to be life-threatening and that he was receiving treatment at a hospital in the capital, Kampala.
Mr. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, rose to prominence in recent years to become the leading challenger to the government of President Yoweri Museveni, a key Western ally who has won six terms in office in elections often marred by allegations of fraud and rigging.
Mr. Wine, 42, a musician-turned-lawmaker and the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, “The People’s President,” challenged Mr. Museveni, 79, for the presidency in the most recent national elections, three years ago. During the campaign, Mr. Wine was repeatedly beaten and detained, and security forces surrounded his house as the results trickled in.
His party, the National Unity Platform, which holds more seats than any other opposition party in the National Assembly, said in a post on X that Mr. Wine had been shot in the leg on Tuesday as he returned from visiting one of his party’s lawyers in the town of Bulindo, northeast of the capital. Mr. Wine and his entourage were surrounded by military and police officers who began firing live bullets and tear-gas canisters, the party said.
Videos and photos shared on social media show Mr. Wine writhing in pain and bleeding from a wound just below the left knee.
Uganda’s police force said in a statement that the police had warned Mr. Wine against starting a street procession as he left Bulindo. But he and his team, the police said, “insisted on proceeding and closing the road, leading to police intervention to prevent the procession.”
The police statement said that officers on the scene said that Mr. Wine was injured when he “stumbled while getting into his vehicle” during the confrontation. The police said that they will investigate the incident.
On Tuesday, Mr. Afran said that in light of Tuesday’s shooting, the United States should review its financial and military support of the government of Mr. Museveni.
