Winnie Byanyima denies past relationship with Museveni has anything to do with Besigye's trial

Winnie Byanyima, the wife of beleaguered Uganda's foremost opposition figure Kizza Besigye has denied that her past relationship with President Yoweri Museveni has anything to do with Besigye's current trial.

Winnie, a Ugandan aeronautical engineer, politician, human rights activist, feminist and diplomat is the executive director of UNAIDS. In an interview with Uganda's Next Gen Radio, she talked about her past love relationship with Museveni, who has shown no remorse over Besigye's incarceration.

"Yes. A long time ago I had a relationship with Museveni but it has no relevance now. It was a normal relationship with President Museveni. It had some challenges, and I left it, but it is not relevant to the political discussion," she said.

The talk about the past relationship between Winnie and Museveni emerged on online social media platforms, with many users arguing that the Ugandan president is entertaining the suffering of Besigye because he is jilted.

Winnie's relationship with Museveni has constantly come out during Uganda's political contests. In 2006, one of the UK's leading newspapers, The Telegraph, in an article titled, "Tangled tale of love and betrayal that links bitter rivals," wrote about how the relationship could have found itself in succession politics.

It describes Winnie as a headstrong and elegant woman who conducted a long affair with Museveni in the 1980s before marrying his leading critic.

Comrades in arms

During those days, Museveni and Besigye were not always such bitter adversaries. They were comrades in arms during Uganda's brutal bush war of the 1980s and were so close that Besigye served as Museveni's doctor.

So most of Uganda's past elections have seen two former friends standing against one another, while the first lady of the opposition is a former lover of the sitting president.

The link has added a personal and very bitter twist in the current trials of Besygye who is in jail over allegations of attempting to overthrow the government.

The couple conducted their affair between 1981 and 1986 when Museveni was fighting a guerrilla war against the late tyrant Milton Obote. Byanyima was at his side when he marched into Kampala at the head of a rebel army and made himself president in 1986.

But Museveni was unwilling to leave his wife, Janet, and Byanyima was cast out. She eventually married Besigye in 1998 - just as he fell out with the president and became his leading critic.

On Friday, Besigye was charged with treason in a civilian court after his controversial case was transferred from a military tribunal.

Treason is a capital offence in Uganda and if found guilty the 68-year-old could be sentenced to death. He was charged alongside two other suspects, but they did not enter a plea because the charges against them could only be heard in a higher court.

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• Winnie Byanyima denies past relationship with Museveni has anything to do with Besigye's trial
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Abducted in Kenya

Besigye, who has run for president against Museveni four times, has been in detention since he was dramatically abducted in Kenya in November and taken back to Uganda to face a military trial.

But a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last month said that trying civilians in military courts was unconstitutional and ordered all such cases to be transferred.

The move angered President Museveni, who called it "a wrong decision". At the start of last week, Besigye had begun a hunger strike over his continued detention.

The charges stem from accusations that he was plotting to remove Museveni from power by force. Friday was the first first time Besigye had appeared before a civilian court for formal charges, after the Supreme Court ruling.

Visibly frail, he was wheeled before the Nakawa magistrate court in the capital, Kampala, alongside his aide and co-accused Obeid Lutale.

According to the charge sheet presented before the court, Besigye is accused of holding meetings in Switzerland, Greece and Kenya between 2023 and November last year in a plot to overturn the government.

He was also accused of soliciting military, financial and other logistical support to topple Museveni's government.