Dozens of military officers in Uganda, including some senior ones, have been arrested over an alleged plot to overthrow the longtime president, Yoweri Museveni, a Ugandan military official said Sunday.
More officers were being arrested over suspected acts of subversion after a colonel with the country’s air forces was detained on Saturday, the military spokesman, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, said.
The officers are suspected of having links to an opposition lawmaker, Michael Kabaziguruka, who is being questioned by the police over similar allegations, Colonel Ankunda said.
Mr. Kabaziguruka is a close ally of the opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, who was charged with treason after a disputed presidential election in February. Mr. Besigye, claiming that he had won the election, refused to accept the official results, which gave victory to Mr. Museveni. Election observers said the polls had been marred by many irregularities.
Mr. Museveni seized power in 1986, at the end of a guerrilla war against an elected government. Since then, many of his former colleagues, including Mr. Besigye, have broken ranks with him, accusing the president of becoming an authoritarian ruler. Others claim that Mr. Museveni wants to rule for life or has plans to have his son succeed him, which he denies.
The charges against Mr. Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger who once served in Mr. Museveni’s government, have been criticized by some as an attempt to intimidate the opposition at a time when the president’s popular support is waning, especially in urban areas.
Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a lawyer for Mr. Besigye, said the treason allegations against Mr. Kabaziguruka and the army officers were “stage-managed” in an effort to keep Mr. Besigye in jail.
“Their interest is in Besigye,” Mr. Rwakafuuzi said, referring to members of the Museveni government. “There is nothing treasonable he has done.”