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An all-female election violence prevention team, the Women’s Situation Room, has called for hostilities between re-elected Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader Kizza Besigye to end, reports the Daily Monitor.
One of the members of the team, Julia Sebutinde, who is a prominent judge at the International Court for Justice, called on the “aggrieved” losers to seek redress through legal means.
She also urged Museveni to be “noble”.
The country’s electoral commission announced over the weekend that Museveni had won the election with more than 60% of counted ballots, while Besigye got 35%.
Sebutinde said: “Even a stolen election is not an excuse for violence. Before you have exhausted the domestic remedies, we would like to see the losers at all levels exhaust the domestic remedies in the courts of law.”
The call for both leaders to desist from hostilities came after Besigye was arrested for the fourth time in just one week.
Besigye was arrested on Monday outside his home and taken to the Naggalama Police Station after declaring the election results a sham.
The east African opposition leader was on his way to the electoral commission’s headquarters to collect evidence proving election rigging to be produced in a petition before the Supreme Court.
Police accused Besigye of using his visit to EC headquarters to incite violence in Kampala.
“We cannot allow that nonsense of defying the law. He (Besigye) was supposed to inform us three days before holding a procession, as the Public Order Management Act stipulates. He must comply [with the laws]. He is not special,”police said.
Watch: Besigye’s arrest following heavy police presence.
