Secretary Kerry
In a phone call to Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said his actions — such as the arrests of challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye and the late opening of polling stations when Ugandans voted Feb. 18 raised questions about whether the elections were “free and fair.”
“I think the Secretary was very frank with … President Museveni,” spokesperson Mark C. Toner said, responding to media questions during the State Department’s daily briefing, “about our concerns that detention – steps like the detention of the opposition presidential candidate, which is clearly a significant step, but polling stations opening late, other things we’ve seen on the ground lead us to have the concerns about the fact that whether these elections are free and fair.”
Asked whether Kerry told Museveni there would be consequences, Toner said, “I’m not sure that he has actually said that we said there’d be any consequences other than we obviously always retain the option to take steps …if we see a lack of progress or clearly efforts to impede free and fair elections.”
Toner added, “what I can say is that any further actions on our part will depend on the actions of the election and the government officials in Uganda over the next few days.”
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