Bobi Wine confirms talks with top US government officials over sanctions

National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has revealed he is in talks with top US government officials for possible sanctions against Ugandan security commanders over brutality.

Bobi Wine’s US allies have been lobbying the US government to slap sanctions against police and military officers over acts of brutality.

Addressing a campaign rally in Kitgum on December 12, Bobi Wine told his supporters he was in talks with the US government.

Bobi Wine did not offer any more details of his purported talks with the US government officers.

Recently, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo revealed Washington was “paying close attention to the actions of individuals who seek to impede the ongoing democratic process.”

Pompeo told Kampala “we expect our partners to live up to their obligations to hold free and fair elections.”

Pompeo’s warning, issued as the world marked International Human Rights Day and the International Anti-Corruption Day, seemed to have been issued on the prompting of Eliot Engel, the chairperson of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Engel had, on December 09, written to Pompeo and Steven T Mnuchin, the Secretary U.S. Department of the Treasury, calling for sanctions against top security commanders.

But President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni wished Bobi Wine and his US allies good luck in their plot to slap sanctions on security officials.

Museveni insisted his administration would not tolerate electoral violence.