Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine has told the BBC that he left the country because he feared for his life following January’s disputed election.
Speaking to Newshour from an undisclosed location after spending two months in hiding in Uganda, he said “it was clear that the regime wanted to eliminate me”.
The pop star turned politician earlier announced he had fled the country in a video posted on X. In it, he repeated his claim that the election had been rigged in favour of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
Museveni, 81, won with 72% of the vote and accused the opposition of seeking to overturn the results through violence.
Wine, 44, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, told the BBC that during his two months in hiding he had been sheltered by supporters, saying: “People gave me food, people gave me clothing and everything else.”
He said Museveni had tried “many times” to have him killed and that the president’s son had “made it clearer without any filters”.
Museveni’s son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who heads Uganda’s military, said Wine was “wanted dead or alive”, without accusing him of any specific offences, and also threatened to castrate him. Those messages have since been deleted from his X account.
Meanwhile, some government members have denied that the security forces have been looking for him. The BBC has asked the police for comment.
Wine said in the interview on Sunday: “Even if I’m out of Uganda, I am still not safe because I know that I’m being pursued by a regime… that is able to pursue its political enemies wherever they are.”
He said he could not give details of how or when he had left Uganda for fear of putting those who helped him in danger.
Wine said his family had left “long before me” but he voiced fears for those in his party, the National Unity Platform, who remained in Uganda, including his deputy, Lina Zedriga, who he had named as his temporary successor.
“She’ll be guiding and leading on ground while I’ll be guiding and leading from wherever I will be,” he explained.
The opposition leader expressed a desire to return to Uganda, characterising his departure as a brief one.
Wine’s video on X, posted on Saturday, was his first public appearance in weeks. It called for targeted international sanctions against Museveni.
He alleged that the authorities had repeatedly raided the homes of his supporters looking for him, including as recently as Thursday, as well as set up roadblocks around the country.
He said that his house in the capital, Kampala, was still surrounded by the military, as it has been since election day.
He denied having broken the law, saying “running for president is not a crime”.
Following protests against the election results, Kainerugaba, widely seen as a potential successor to his father, said that 30 “terrorists” from Wine’s party had been killed.