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Uganda General Opposed to Museveni Arrested


FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2014 file photo, General David Sejusa returns to the capital Kampala, Uganda. A military general who opposes Uganda's longtime president was arrested ahead of presidential elections next month, his lawyer said Jan. 31, 2016.
FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2014 file photo, General David Sejusa returns to the capital Kampala, Uganda. A military general who opposes Uganda's longtime president was arrested ahead of presidential elections next month, his lawyer said Jan. 31, 2016.

A military general who opposes Uganda's longtime president has been arrested, according to his lawyer.

He says General David Sejusa, who has called President Yoweri Museveni a dictator, is being detained at a military barracks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Sejusa's arrest is likely to raise tensions before the presidential elections on February 18.

Neither the government or military has commented on why Sejusa was detained.

Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, when he led a group of rebels, including Sejusa, against a government they accused of rigging elections.

Sejusa now openly accuses Museveni of violating the ideals for which they waged that guerrilla war.

In 2013, Sejusa wrote a letter to the domestic spy chief urging him to investigate allegations of a plot to kill high-ranking government officials seen as being opposed to the political rise of Museveni's son, a brigadier who commands the country's special forces.

Facing likely arrest, Sejusa, who, was traveling in Europe at the time, sought asylum in London. He quietly returned home in December 2014.

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