Ugandan opposition warned
2008-02-13 21:02
Kampala - The Ugandan presidency accused opposition leaders on Wednesday, of inciting violence similar to clashes that took place in Kenya after disputed elections.
"Ugandan politicians - especially of the opposition - have been using what is happening in Kenya to incite the public," said Tamale Mirundi, presidential secretary.
President Yoweri Museveni wrote a 17-page open letter on Sunday in the state-owned paper, The New Vision, in which he said that the "rantings" of opposition politicians would not be tolerated.
"Anybody who tries to initiate war in Uganda, especially now, will perish," the letter read.
Rigged elections
Kenya's disputed December 27 election broke into country-wide violence after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki defeated opposition leader, Raila Odinga, in a race the opposition alleged was rigged.
Museveni also said that he would sue opposition MP Betty Kamya for her statements in a January 28 editorial.
"Like Kenyans, we are going to have to fight to extricate ourselves from Museveni's paws," Kamya wrote in The Daily Monitor, an independent Ugandan newspaper.
"The president thinks Kamya is declaring war against both him and the country," Mirundi said.
Kamya was officially charged on Monday with sedition, promoting war, promoting sectarianism and inciting violence.
The MP belongs to the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, which has battled Museveni's party for power in past presidential elections.