Uganda dismisses Museveni, Besigye mediation reports

Uganda has rejected reports of an international mediation between President Museveni and his opponent, Kizza Besigye, and maintained that there would be no international audit of the results of the 2016 elections.

President Museveni won the 2016 polls with 60.75% of the vote but the election was slammed by the international community.

Earlier in the week, reports said Besigye had confirmed that an agreement had been reached to have an audit of the election results.

“The presidential election results have never been, and cannot be, part of any discussion,” Uganda’s government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said while rejecting reports of talks with the opposition.

“We cannot say that there is dialogue going on between the NRM government and FDC on any matter. So none of these – while the approaches have been made, none has taken off,” Opondo maintained.

In late March, Swedish Government confirmed that it had been approached and accepted to mediate planned talks between President Museveni and opposition Dr Kizza Besigye.

The Swedish Foreign ministry spokeswoman even added that the country’s state secretary, Annika Soder, had been agreed on by the principals as the mediator for the expected talks.

“The government of Ugandan is challenging the government of Sweden. Who? Who approached them? It is possible some Ugandans approached them but certainly not the government of Uganda,” said Opondo and added, “And more specifically, over auditing presidential election results.”

Besigye, who has been placed under house arrest several times, has stood for president four times losing each time to his bitter rival Museveni.