Catholic bishops in Uganda demanded the release of a priest detained by the authorities for alleged subversive activities.
President Yoweri Museveni confirmed that Fr Deusdedit Ssekabira, a priest of the Diocese of Masaka, was in military detention and would only be released if he confessed to his involvement with opposition leader Robert Kyangulanyi Sentamu, known as Bobi Wine.
Museveni said Bishop Severus Jjumba of Masaka had urged Ssekabira’s release at a meeting with him, but he told the bishop that the priest would remain in custody.
“They wanted me to release him, but I said no! We can only release him if they tell the truth,” the president said.
Men in military uniforms seized Ssekabira from the offices of the Universal Chastity Education, an NGO he runs, on 3 December and took him to an undisclosed location.
Initially, the men were believed to be kidnappers, but the military confirmed it had made the arrest two weeks later.
The priest’s arrest is connected to the presidential elections on 15 January in which 81-year-old Museveni won a seventh term.
The electoral commission said on 17 January that Museveni had won 71.65 per cent of the vote cast.
He becomes the third longest serving president in Africa, after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea and Paul Biya of Cameroon.
Sentamu, a 41-year-old popstar-turned-politician who was Musevini’s main challenger, received 24.7 per cent rejected the outcome as fraudulent but said he would not challenge it in court.
He alleged ballot stuffing, intimidation of opposition leaders and shutting down of the internet before and after the polls.
The Catholic Church did not publish an official statement on the elections, but some of its officials said all went well.
“I think it was generally OK,” said Fr John Baptist Kauta, the general secretary of the Uganda Episcopal Conference. “The elections are continuing and everything is peaceful so far. There is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Howeber, Ssekabira’s raise concerns about rising cases of abductions, disappearances and kidnappings in East Africa, which the Church and human rights groups are raising concerns over.
In November, Kenyan bishops criticised the government for failing to address worsening insecurity, characterised by abductions, torture and killings of political dissenters. Several people have disappeared without trace.
Similarly, ahead of the elections in Tanzania in October, the bishops criticised a rising wave of abductions, kidnapping and killings.
In April, Fr Charles Kitima, the general secretary of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, was hospitalised after being attacked near the conference’s headquarters.