CHICAGO – Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has travelled to the USA to attend an international human rights conference that will be graced by global human rights defenders and politicians.
Bobi Wine will address the International Global Peace and Human Rights Summit in Chicago that started on June 28 and ends on July 2.
The conference, which is organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, has former US Vice President Joe Biden as a special guest.
Other panelists are Momodou Jallow, an MP in Sweden; Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a Korean activist and associate professor of Theology; Daniela Gomes, a Brazilian journalist and activist; Nasir Zakaria, director of the Rohingya Culture Center in Chicago; Dr. Isabella Alexander, a human rights activist and filmmaker.
The panel is moderated by Dr. Ewa Ewa, an Illinois State lawmaker.
Rev. Jackson is a prominent human rights activist and a former U.S. presidential candidate.
The conference kicked off with a speech by Biden who is currently the front-runner for the Democrats for next year’s U.S. presidential election. Other speakers include another prominent Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg.
Bobi Wine, who is a leader of the People Power Movement, burst into global headlines last August when he and other Ugandan lawmakers were arrested, beaten and tortured while campaigning for an opposition candidate who later won an open Parliamentary seat, defeating the ruling National Resistance Movement’s candidate.
International pressure forced the Ugandan regime to release the MP, who is also the country’s best-known entertainment artist, who then traveled to the U.S. for treatment. Several U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives subsequently released statements condemning the attacks on Kyagulanyi, other MPs, and their supporters. His driver Yasin Kawuma was shot dead during the attack last August with bullets may believe were intended for Kyagulanyi. On January 8, 2019, the U.K. Parliament held a session on human rights abuses in Uganda and several MPs denounced Museveni as a dictator who has rigged elections.
Police has canceled as many as 241 concerts featuring Kyagulanyi since 2017 in Uganda effectively banning him from performing. Recently Andrew Mukasa, who promotes Kyagulanyi’s concerts was arrested and charged with treason for an alleged social media posting.
More than 80% of Uganda’s population is under age 35 and Kyagulanyi’s supporters are confident he and a coalition can send Gen. Museveni into retirement when elections are held two years from now.
