Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Uganda on the recent arrest of the Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi and the subsequent violence in that country.

The UK Government is deeply concerned by the violence during protests in Kampala and other cities in Uganda following the arrest of Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi (also known as Bobi Wine) on 18 November. Tragically, lives have been lost and our thoughts are with the families of all those affected. On 20 November, I issued a tweet that called for all parties to reject violence, work to de-escalate the situation and to respect the rights of all Ugandans to express their views in a peaceful manner.

We continue to call on Uganda to guarantee freedoms enshrined in the Ugandan Constitution. At the UN Security Council on 13 October, we called on the Government of Uganda to ensure elections in January 2021 are peaceful, free and fair. The British High Commissioner in Kampala has also raised the importance of free and fair elections and respect for human rights directly with senior Government Ministers and will continue to do so. The UK calls on all governments to ensure any restrictions put in place to protect public health are necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and do not undermine the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.