SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We're going to speak now with Bobi Wine, the Ugandan opposition leader has been in hiding since January 15 and the presidential election in which the former musician was the most prominent candidate to run against six-term president, Yoweri Museveni, who has claimed victory with nearly 72% of the vote. Bobi Wine rejects that result. Ugandan soldiers raided his family's home late last week, looking for him. His wife, Barbara, says she was roughed up by soldiers at their home and had to be hospitalized. Bobi Wine joins us now. Can you say where you are, Mr. Wine?
BOBI WINE: Unfortunately, I cannot say where I am 'cause it's dangerous for me. I am being pursued by the military and police and all security agencies, although they've not mentioned my crime. My house was raided. They beat up my wife so much. They stripped her naked, and everything was on camera.
SIMON: I - in fact, I have seen those pictures. They must be very upsetting for you to take a look at.
WINE: Yeah. Very, very unfortunate. All that was meant to humiliate my wife and to humiliate my family members. And all the people that were home were beaten up by the military.
SIMON: I have to ask you about the election. You do not accept the results. Why?
WINE: We do not accept the results because they are not anywhere near what happened. We defeated General Museveni, and we have evidence to that. But even that on the side, there was widespread ballot stuffing. The internet was switched off, which is illegal, and a majority of our agents were abducted. As we speak right now, my deputy president for Northern Uganda, Dr. Lina Zedriga, was abducted on the 15 of January, and she is missing over two weeks. My deputy president of western Uganda, Jolly Jacklyn Tukamushaba, was also abducted, and she is still missing. Thousands of our people have been arrested, and others continue to be arrested.
SIMON: This question is going to sound naive. Would you be open to any kind of compromise, power sharing between your National Unity Party and President Museveni's party?
WINE: The first thing I want to be is alive. The son of General Museveni, who is a general himself, has ordered for the military to look for me and deliver me dead or alive because he does not like me. I am not an outlaw. I have not committed any crime. He has threatened to find me and kill me. He has threatened to castrate me. So we cannot have a conversation when a boot is on my neck, when I'm being chased to be killed.
SIMON: Mr. Wine, what would you like other countries in the world, and maybe specifically the United States, to do?
WINE: The United States is our partner in development in many things, including security. My question is, is this what they signed up to partner with? My call to them has always been not to be facilitators and enablers of this injustice and criminality. The United States has always put sanctions to human rights violators. It is my hope and prayer that they will realize that there's gross human rights violation in Uganda, and maybe they will put sanctions and other laws that they can evoke. My hope and prayer is that they will evoke them.
SIMON: What are your hopes for Uganda?
WINE: Freedom - freedom to live in full dignity, freedom to think, freedom to disagree with the powers that be and not have to run, the freedom to be able to be a father to my children, especially my youngest daughter, the freedom to run for president and not expect death threats, the freedom to leave my wife home and to know that I will find her safe, the freedom to live in my own house.
SIMON: If you could manage to escape, you could probably lead a comfortable and honorable life, making appearances around the world in the United States and Western Europe. You ever think about that?
WINE: I do. But I don't just think about me, Scott. Like I told you, my two deputy presidents are missing. There are hundreds of innocent people that are missing. So while I fight this, I'm not looking only at my plight. I'm looking at the plight of all these other people. Yes, I want to be free. Yes, I want to continue the fight. Yes, I want to speak to the world. But at the same time, I want everybody else to get their freedom. I want everybody else to be safe. If I can, I'll get out of the country. But if they find me, I want the world to know that I stood not just for me but for everybody else.
SIMON: Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, speaking to us while he's on the run and in hiding from the Museveni government. Mr. Wine, thank you so much for being with us.
WINE: Thank you, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF HERMANOS GUTIERREZ'S "MESA REDONDA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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