Uganda’s opposition leader ‘freed after Dubai detention’

KAMPALA, Uganda

Ugandan pop star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, says he was detained in Dubai at the weekend after arriving there to perform at a music concert.

All they need is a flight to Uganda

He says he was held at the airport for 12 hours and was questioned about his political party, family and personal details.

He was later released without charge and the concert, whose proceeds were meant to benefit African migrants in the Gulf country, was later cancelled.

Kyagulanyi has blamed Uganda embassy officials for the cancellation of his music concert

“The information I have is that the Ugandan embassy in Dubai influenced the cancellation of this concert because maybe if I was able to return these girls back home then the government of Uganda will be slapped in the face,” he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

He added: “I have performed in Dubai many times for the last 15 years but this show was cancelled, and the cancellation was not adequately explained.”

Kyagulanyi participated in last year’s presidential election which he lost to the incumbent Yoweri Museveni.

However, Uganda Minister of Foreign Affairs, Okello Oryem, yesterday described claims that Kampala was involved in Kyagulanyi’s detention as “hogwash and rubbish.”  

He went to Dubai to hold what he called a charity concert seeking to raise funds to bring back hundreds of Ugandans who are stranded in different Middle East countries.    

“When I arrived at the airport at about 8pm, I noticed that there was an unusual deployment, so I was taken into a room and they started to interrogate me,” Kyagulanyi said.

He added: “They asked me political related questions whether I was going to hold a rally or a music concert.”

The singer-turned politician said after hours of interrogation, he was put in a detention facility at the airport in Dubai where he met many people from different African countries on various charges.

“There were many people and during the time I was with them, they cried about how they are struggling for freedom and many of them knew me and they were calling me by name. These people are held on different cases but I had all the documents needed,” Kyagulanyi.

He Twitted: “After our cancelled charity concert, we visited sisters being held at Al Awir Deportation Jail, Dubai. All they need is a flight home for Approx 200USD(800K UGX). Here alone are 600 African girls (200 Ugandans and 400 other nationalities- away from the other 20 detention centers.” - Africa