Threats and Promises: Uganda Gets Tough at Home and Abroad
NEED TO KNOW
Threats and Promises: Uganda Gets Tough at Home and Abroad
UGANDA
Ugandan leaders have worked closely with the military brass of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Rwandan-backed rebel movement, M23, in the country while running its own fighters in the eastern DRC. They have also sent troops to South Sudan to help the country as a civil war rages in neighboring Sudan and spills over the border.
These operations have expanded Uganda’s sphere of influence in eastern Africa, which Ugandan leaders take seriously after Islamist rebels based in the DRC launched bombing attacks in the capital of Kampala in 2021, wrote Xinhua.
These policies have also sown the seeds of violence for generations, say analysts. “Ugandan meddling perpetuates conflict in the eastern DRC by proliferating the number of armed actors, injecting regional competition into local conflicts, and complicating peace efforts,” wrote the Institute for the Study of War.
The same Ugandan leaders are equally decisive and arguably ruthless when they handle critics at home.
The country’s military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is the eldest son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, recently said he kidnapped and held captive Eddie Mutwe, the chief bodyguard for Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, according to Reuters.
Mutwe went missing on April 27 after armed men grabbed him in Kampala. On social media, Kainerugaba claimed that he had captured Mutwe “like a grasshopper,” put him in his “basement,” and was “using him as a punching bag,” reported Al Jazeera. Four days later, when he appeared in court to answer to charges of aggravated robbery, Mutwe was “visibly weak.” His attorneys said he was tortured. The justice minister called the situation “an abuse of the judicial process.”
Critics of President Museveni and his regime said Mutwe’s ordeal was a sign of an escalating and harsh government campaign to silence dissent and crush the opposition before elections next year, the BBC explained. Wine is expected to run against Museveni, who has run Uganda for nearly 40 years.
Wine and other opposition leaders say that Museveni’s security forces have kidnapped more than 2,000 activists in the country since 2021, noted Radio France Internationale. Police have arrested Wine numerous times during his political campaigns. Another Museveni rival and presidential contender, Kizza Besigye, has been detained for nearly five months on treason charges that he rejects as political.
On social media, Kainerugaba later challenged Wine to a boxing match, wrote Business Insider Africa. Wine accepted, saying that he will quit politics if he loses, but, if he wins, the military chief must give up alcohol.
That was a much less serious threat, however, than one he made in January on X against Wine, threatening to behead him, added Business Insider Africa. Soon after, the president’s son quit X, saying, “It is on the instructions and blessings of my Lord Jesus Christ that I leave this social media and dedicate myself to my assignment to bring peace and security to our region.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Kurdish Militant Group Lays Down Arms For Peace
TURKEY
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will disband and disarm itself as part of a peace initiative with the Turkish government, the militant group announced Monday, a move that would bring an end to the decades-long insurgency and resolve one of Turkey’s main security threats, the Wall Street Journal reported.
On Monday, the PKK-affiliated Firat News Agency confirmed that the Kurdish organization agreed to end its armed struggle following a congress held by its leaders last week.
The PKK leaders voted to dissolve, claiming that the militant group had achieved its historical mission and “led the Kurdish problem to the point of being solved through democratic politics.”
Monday’s announcement follows a call earlier this year by the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, for the PKK to disband after more than 40 years of conflict.
Following Öcalan’s plea, the group declared a ceasefire in March.
Founded in 1978, the PKK – designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States – launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish government in 1984 that has killed around 40,000 people.
The group initially advocated for an independent Kurdish state, but Öcalan later changed that stance into a push for greater autonomy and rights for Kurds, a large ethnic group spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Turkish authorities captured Öcalan in 1999 in Kenya, and the Kurdish leader is serving life in prison for treason and sedition.
Following Monday’s announcement, Turkish officials welcomed the news, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calling it “historic and important.” He added the move would eventually lead to “lasting peace and stability.”
Analysts explained that an end to the conflict would resolve one of Turkey’s long-running security and political issues. It would also help smooth tensions between Turkey and the US over the latter’s partnership with Kurdish fighters in Syria who are battling Islamic State extremists.
Observers told the Washington Post that the decision to dissolve also underscores new realities for the PKK – battered by years of Turkish military campaigns – and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s need for Kurdish support to remain in power beyond his term’s expiration in 2028.
However, others urged caution, saying that it remains unclear if all Kurdish militant groups will commit to the call to disarm, how the disarmament will be implemented, and what will happen to their fighters.
There are also questions about some of the concessions Ankara has offered the PKK to disarm.
Previous calls for ceasefires and efforts to end the conflict have failed.
In 2013, Ocalan announced an end to the insurgency and the withdrawal of PKK forces from Turkish territory as part of a ceasefire deal. But the conflict restarted two years later after Turkish authorities blamed the PKK for an attack that killed two policemen in the country’s south.
The Shadow War: Poland Closes Russian Consulate After Mall Fire
POLAND
Poland said it will close the Russian consulate in Krakow after finding evidence that Russia was behind the fire last year that destroyed a shopping mall in Warsaw, Reuters reported.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week that the fire was allegedly ordered by the Russian secret services, adding that some of the perpetrators had already been detained while the others were still at large, according to Politico.
On Monday, federal prosecutors pressed charges against two Ukrainian citizens who cooperated with the perpetrators of the arson, the Associated Press reported.
The fire broke out in May 2024 at the Marywilska 44 shopping center that housed around 1,400 shops in a northern district of Warsaw. No one was hurt in the blaze.
Now, Russia has about 30 days to close the Krakow consulate, which hosts three diplomats and four other employees.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Tomasz Sikorski said that Poland will take further measures if Russia continues to attack Poland.
Russia denied involvement in the attack and accused Poland of Russophobia. The Russian government on Monday vowed to retaliate.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told state-owned news agency TASS that Poland was “deliberately” cutting ties with Moscow, going “against the interests of its citizens.”
The already tense relations between Warsaw and Moscow have worsened since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Poland believes its role as a corridor for aid to Kyiv has made it a target for Russia’s sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation – allegations that Moscow denies.
In October, Poland announced the closure of the Russian consulate in the central city of Poznan after alleged Russian sabotage attempts. In return, Russia closed the Polish consulate in Saint Petersburg.
Over the past few years, Russia has escalated a “violent campaign of sabotage and subversion” against European and US targets in Europe led by the Russian military intelligence unit, the GRU, especially targeting transportation networks, government, critical infrastructure, and industry, wrote the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently, calling it a “shadow war against the West.”
Bangladesh’s Interim Government Bans Former Ruling Party
BANGLADESH
The interim government in Bangladesh banned the Awami League party, headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year after 15 years in power in a student-led uprising, the Associated Press reported.
The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, said it was halting all activities by the party under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The move follows street protests attended over the weekend by thousands – including the supporters of a newly formed student-led political party – in the capital, Dhaka, where demonstrators demanded a ban on the party, wrote the Guardian.
The ban is to remain in place until a special tribunal finishes trying Awami party leaders on charges of murder in the deaths of hundreds of students and protesters during the anti-government demonstrations that took place last summer.
Those protests became a mass uprising that led to Hasina fleeing the country in August, and she remains in exile.
Thousands may have been killed in the crackdown by the government that followed the demonstrations, according to a February report by the United Nations.
Awami League’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, was already banned in October after being labelled a “terrorist organization” due to its involvement in violence against protesters during the uprising.
The Awami League called the ban illegal on its Facebook page.
The interim government has pledged to reform the country’s political institutions and said elections could be delayed until 2026.
DISCOVERIES
The Shy Amphibian
First described in 1902, the frog Alsodes vittatus had been missing for over a century.
But recently, scientists from the University of Concepción in Chile have spotted it for the first time in almost 130 years.
“The main challenge in locating it was the lack of precision in the description of its type locality,” said researchers in a statement about their new study in the journal ZooKeys.
The frog was first spotted by French entomologist Philibert Germain in 1893 at a former estate, the Hacienda San Ignacio de Pemehue in La Araucanía Region, Chile. He brought three specimens to German naturalist Rodulfo Amando Philippi, who scientifically described them in 1902.
After that, it remained elusive.
About a decade ago, study authors Claudio Correa and Juan Pablo Donoso found two populations of Alsodes in Chile’s La Araucanía region. However, the frogs didn’t show A. vittatus’ typical white or yellow stripe on the back, indicating they were part of a different species, researchers said.
“In Germain’s time, the Hacienda San Ignacio de Pemehue was an estate of enormous size, and the naturalist did not specify the exact place where he collected the specimens,” the researchers added.
To find the species, Correa and his team retraced Germain’s possible path through the estate, studying his writings and historical records.
In 2023 and 2024, study authors Correa and Edvin Riveros attempted to reconstruct the route of Germain, entering the former estate from the southeastern end. As a result, the two populations of A. vittatus in the Lolco and Portales river basins in the La Araucanía region, meaning that, for the first time since 1902, scientists confirm the existence of a species that had managed to stay off the radar for over a century.
The discovery is a crucial step for the protection of biodiversity in South America, say scientists. Most of the other frog species in the genus Alsodes are either at risk of extinction or haven’t been studied enough for scientists to assess their conservation status. Understanding their habitats and behaviors is the first step toward protecting them.
“The rediscovery of A. vittatus allowed us to obtain, more than a century after its description, the first biological and ecological data on the species,” noted the researchers. “Field observations also indicate that this amphibian faces several significant threats and that it could be considered endangered.”
Correction/Clarification: In Friday’s DISCOVERIES section, we said in our “New Neighbors” item that Barnard’s Star is the closest star to our solar system. According to the American Astronomical Society, Barnard’s Star is the nearest single star and the second-nearest star system to Earth – the triple-star Alpha Centauri system is closer. We apologize for the error.