Eddie Mutwe: Anger as Uganda's Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba says he's holding Bobi Wine's bodyguard
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Uganda's president, has confirmed the detention of an opposition leader's bodyguard, who has been missing for five days. Edward Sebuufu, alias Eddie Mutwe, was reportedly picked up on Sunday by unidentified individuals in both civilian clothes and military fatigues in the central town of Kiwango, sparking public outrage. In a series of posts on X, Gen Kainerugabai, who is also Uganda's military chief, said Mr Sebuufu was "in my basement", attaching the bodyguard's photo with a clean-shaven head. Gen Kainerugabai's remarks have sparked public anger with Ugandans using the hashtag #FreeEddieMutwe to demand Mr Sebuufu's release and condemn his detention.
Gen Kainerugaba frequently makes political comments, which his critics say contravenes the military's code of discipline.The 51-year-old army general is seen as a possible successor to his long-serving father, Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, who has denied that he is grooming his son for the presidency.Muhoozi Kainerugaba - Uganda's ambitious tweeting generalGen Kainerugaba has made many controversial statements on social media, touching on subjects considered taboo for a serving soldier.In 2022, he made headlines for discussing an invasion of neighbouring Kenya, a comment that forced his father to step in and apologise.He recently sparked anger with a tweet in which he threatened to behead opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine.Late on Thursday, he sparked another social media storm after he published a photo of Mr Sebuufu, Bobi Wine's bodyguard, appearing half-naked and clean shaved. Bobi Wine said Mr Sebuufu was on Sunday "violently abducted" from Kiwango by armed men travelling in a police van, popularly known as "drone", before he was whisked to an unknown place. In a series of posts, Gen Kainerugaba said his soldiers had captured Mr Sebuufu "liked a grasshopper" and he was learning Runyankore, a language spoken in western Uganda, while in custody. He said Mr Sebuufu was "looking very smart these days" after his beard was shaved by "my boy", referring to his junior soldiers. The general said he would only release the bodyguard if ordered to do so by his father, President Museveni. Gen Kainerugaba did not explicitly state where Mr Sebuufu was being held, or on what legal charges. Security forces are yet to comment on the matter but police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke on Monday told local media that he was not aware of Mr Sebuufu being held in any police station. Opposition officials and social media users in Uganda have demanded the bodyguard be produced in court if he is in lawful custody.Bobi Wine has called for a "solidarity" rally on Friday in the capital Kampala, accusing Gen Kainerugaba for "illegally holding, torturing, and dehumanizing" his bodyguard. "This is a non-partisan opportunity to unite. Friends of Eddie and other Ugandans of good conscience, let us come together in solidarity not just with Eddie but all political prisoners!," Bobi Wine posted on X. In a statement, the Uganda Law Society has called for the immediate release of the bodyguard, saying his ordeal was not an isolated case but "part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent and crush the aspirations of people yearning for freedom". The society feared that the reported involvement of the army in the matter "underscores a dangerous nexus of military power and political oppression". Mr Sebuufu, who is in charge of Bobi Wine's personal security detail, has been arrested several times and charged with various offences, including treason and illegal possession of ammunition. The opposition says his arrests and charges are politically motivated.He has been a key target in several security crackdowns on opposition activities, especially during elections and mobilisation campaigns, local media reported. Bobi Wine, a popular singer who has declared his intention to challenge President Museveni for the second time in the 2026 elections, has often been prevented from holding political rallies.There are growing concerns about the targeting of opposition figures and supporters by security agencies as political mobilisation intensifies ahead of the elections.
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Telegraph
14-05-2025
- Telegraph
The deranged dictator's son livetweeting torture from his basement
The man's eyes are filled with terror, his shoulders bare, his once prominent beard has gone. Reduced to a state of desperation, he seems to be imploring a tormentor for mercy. In some dictatorships, torture occurs furtively in underground cells, but the ordeal of Edward Ssebuufu, a prominent opposition activist, shows that Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni is brazenly different. Ssebuufu's suffering was not just displayed to the world but posted live on X (formerly Twitter), proudly and boisterously, in all its stages of sadism. This was done not by an over-zealous secret policeman but by the social media account of the dictator's Sandhurst -educated son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. And the son is not some marginalised embarrassment but the Commander of Uganda's Armed Forces and the man most likely to succeed his 80-year-old father as President. The sons of despots have often been accused of brutish behaviour – Col Muammar Gaddafi 's one-time heir, Saif al-Islam, carries an indictment for alleged crimes against humanity – yet only Kainerugaba has apparently chosen to live-post his cruelty to 1.1 million social media followers. In those posts, Kainerugaba's X account revels in Ssebuufu's agony and degradation, describing how the prisoner was supposedly 'crying' and 'urinating', before adding: 'I still have to castrate him.' Kainerugaba, who graduated in political science from Nottingham University in 1997 and passed out of Sandhurst in 2000, proclaims his ambition to ascend to the pinnacle of power. That prospect might chill many Ugandans who remember the blood-soaked reign of another soldier, Idi Amin, yet the reality is that Kainerugaba has every chance of achieving his goal. When old age eventually strikes down Museveni, who seized the presidency nearly 40 years ago, the son's command of the army would place him in pole position to ensure a hereditary succession in a country that calls itself a Republic. 'I would really worry about the prospect of him becoming President,' says one Ugandan journalist with calculated understatement. 'But when I set aside my personal feelings and analyse it objectively, I find that there's a real possibility of this happening.' Kainerugaba's previous outbursts have already earned him notoriety. He has variously praised Vladimir Putin as a 'hero'; offered to send Ugandan troops to fight for Russia; threatened to invade neighbouring Kenya ('two weeks to capture Nairobi'); and announced his desire to marry Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister. His profile page on X carries an image of Robert Powell playing Jesus Christ in the 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. If Kainerugaba, 51, represents the future of Uganda, his latest excess may be the most instructive. Ssebuufu, Head of Security for Uganda's opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi (better known by his stage name Bobi Wine), disappeared after being arrested near the capital, Kampala, on April 27. Four days later, Kainerugaba's X account announced that Ssebuufu was 'in my basement'. Then came a stream of tweets glorying in the torment of the prisoner. 'The beards were the first thing the boys removed. After he finished crying and urinating,' reads one post. 'If you see Eddie's head now he looks like an egg. Totally clean,' says the next. Then: 'Eddie started crying as soon as the boys grabbed him.' Kainerugaba's account describes how the prisoner was being forced to defer to an image of the President. 'Eddie is looking very smart these days. The boys have tuned him well. He salutes Mzee's [Museveni's] picture every day before breakfast.' Over and again, the posts under Kainerugaba's name threaten to inflict the same ordeal on Wine, derisively referred to as 'Kabobi'. 'Next is Kabobi!' says one post. 'I have never joked in my life. I don't know why people think my tweets are jokes.' Whether Ssebuufu's torture was taking place in the basement of Kainerugaba's own house in Kampala is unclear, though one post says as much. The regime has a network of locations, known without irony as 'safe houses', where opposition activists are regularly detained and abused. Ssebuufu may have been held in one of them. On May 5, eight days after his arrest, he appeared in court in the town of Masaka, 80 miles south-west of Kampala, unable to stand without help. Ssebuufu, also known as Eddie Mutwe, was charged with robbery and remanded in custody in Masaka prison, where over 1,000 inmates occupy a jail designed for half that number. Two days later, Wine was allowed to visit Ssebuufu. Afterwards the opposition leader, visibly shaken, described exactly what he had learnt of his friend's suffering. 'We saw him and he was tortured very badly,' said Wine. 'He was tortured for three days and on the third day Muhoozi Kainerugaba came himself personally and beat him, tortured him, and his men tortured Eddie Mutwe in the presence of Muhoozi. He was electrocuted, he was waterboarded and so many terrible things happened to him.' Wine's description of Ssebuufu's ordeal tallied with Kainerugaba's social media posts. 'He was forced to salute Museveni's picture every day,' said the opposition leader. 'He was stripped naked and, later on, when he was given a piece of cloth, he was only given a Museveni T-shirt.' Lawyers representing Ssebuufu were allowed to visit him and confirmed his torture, though without mentioning Kainerugaba's personal involvement. 'He has been over-tortured for all the days he has been in detention, in irregular detention,' said Magellan Kazibwe, one of Ssebuufu's lawyers. 'He has told me and my colleague that he was tortured every day, five times, and they were beating him using these wires of electricity. They were electrocuting him. They were squeezing him, including his private parts. He is in great pain. He has not accessed any doctor up to now. He is in a very appalling and bad health state.' Ssebuufu was later reported to have received treatment at Masaka prison's medical facility. The fate of his security chief will be bitterly familiar to Wine, who endured 10 days of beatings and torture in military barracks in 2018. His injuries were so severe that he had to leave Uganda for medical care in the United States. When he ran against Museveni in the last presidential election, Wine was arrested in the middle of the campaign. As supporters mounted street protests demanding his release, the security forces opened fire with live rounds, killing at least 54 people in Kampala in November 2020 and arresting thousands more. On polling day, January 15 2021, Wine was placed under house arrest while the regime disconnected Uganda from the internet and announced a rigged result, giving him 34 per cent of the vote and handing Museveni victory with 58 per cent. Now, Wine is preparing to run against Museveni once again in the election due in January next year, which will also mark the 40th anniversary of the President capturing Kampala as a rebel leader and taking power in January 1986. In the first decade of his rule, Museveni managed to stabilise Uganda after years of ruinous civil war and the dictatorships of Idi Amin and Milton Obote. At that time, Britain and America regarded him as a reformer who deserved their support. They continued to indulge Museveni even as he twice rewrote the constitution to prolong his grip on power, first by abolishing term limits and then removing the age limit. Even now, as Museveni resorts to torture and repression against his opponents – and Kainerugaba waits in the wings – Uganda still receives £31.6 million of British aid. Wine, a musician and actor raised in one of Kampala's poorest areas, has built an opposition movement, the National Unity Platform, that carries the hopes of Ugandans who strive to escape their dictatorship. The agony of Edward Ssebuufu reminds them of the risks of defying Museveni. The dictator's son, who appeared to glory in the suffering of a human being, reminds Ugandans of the rule that may await them.
Reuters
06-05-2025
- Reuters
Ugandan opposition member held by president's son shows signs of torture
Summary Bodyguard of opposition leader seized last month President's son says he used him "as a punching bag" Justice minister calls treatment "abuse of judicial processes" NAIROBI, May 6 (Reuters) - A Ugandan opposition activist, who President Yoweri Museveni's son said he had been holding captive in his basement, appears to have been tortured, the East African nation's justice minister said. Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is Museveni's eldest child, said last week that he had detained Eddie Mutwe, the chief bodyguard for opposition leader Bobi Wine. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. Kainerugaba wrote on X that he had captured Mutwe "like a grasshopper" and was "using him as a punching bag". Mutwe was presented in court on Monday and remanded to custody on robbery charges, his lawyer said. In a statement released late on Monday, Justice Minister Norbert Mao said Mutwe appeared in court "in a visibly weak condition and showing signs of having been tortured". "Bringing illegally detained, brutalised and tortured suspects before the courts of law is an abuse of judicial processes," said Mao, the leader of an opposition party who was appointed justice minister in 2022. He did not say who was responsible for Mutwe's condition but called on the courts to deal swiftly with the opposition figure's case. The National Unity Platform (NUP) - the party to which Mutwe belongs - said he went missing after being grabbed by uniformed armed men near the capital Kampala on April 27. On Thursday, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, a government body, ordered Kainerugaba to release him. Reuters contacted a spokesperson for Uganda's defence forces seeking comment from Kainerugaba. He did not respond. Mutwe's lawyer, Magellan Kazibwe, said his client told him he had been tortured daily and electrocuted while being held by the president's son. Kainerugaba, who is widely viewed as being groomed to succeed his 80-year-old father, frequently makes incendiary comments on social media. In January, he wrote on X that he wanted to behead NUP leader Wine, Uganda's most prominent opposition leader. Museveni has led Uganda since 1986 and is expected to stand for reelection next January. His opponents and human rights activists have regularly accused Museveni's government of wide-ranging abuses, including abductions and illegal detentions, allegations he denies.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- BBC News
Eddie Mutwe: Ugandan bodyguard charged after days of torture, lawyer says
A bodyguard for one of Uganda's opposition leaders, Bobi Wine, has been charged with aggravated robbery, days after the head of the military said he had detained him. Last week Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also President Yoweri Museveni's son, confirmed that he had been holding Eddie Mutwe five days after his disappearance. The lawyer representing the bodyguard, whose real name is Edward Sebuufu, said his client had been tortured, telling the country's Daily Monitor newspaper that he was beaten using "wires of electricity".Magellan Kazibwe added that Mr Sebuufu was in "great pain" and had also faced the squeezing of his "private parts". Mr Kazibwe told reporters that Mr Sebuufu had faced electrocution and that his team were planning to take him to groups have long accused the authorities of targeting the opposition especially during the run up to Mr Sebuufu was brought to court on Monday, security operatives tried to shield him to prevent the media from seeing him. But videos showed Bobi Wine's bodyguard barefoot, and hardly able to week, Gen Kainerugabai posted on social media that Mr Sebuufu was in his custody. The army chief said the bodyguard had been shaved and that he planned to castrate him. The detention comes as Uganda gears up for elections in 2026 where Museveni, who has been in power for nearly four decades, is expected to run against Bobi Wine. Several human rights activists have condemned Mr Sebuufuu's detention, meanwhile Uganda's Human Rights Commission called for his immediate society organisations have also warned that his detention is part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent and crush opposition ahead of the general the government blames the opposition for civilian and police clashes, saying they hold rallies without permission. Lawyer Mr Kazibwe added that aside from aggravated robbery, Mr Sebuufuu was also charged with simple robbery over an alleged incident in Lwengo District. You may also be interested in: Bobi Wine: Uganda's 'ghetto president'How an ex-rebel has stayed in power for 35 yearsUgandan internet propaganda network exposed by the BBC Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
