|PIC1|Christian Aid is calling on the UK government to ensure the Ugandan elections are fair and free, as Ugandans will vote for a new president and parliament in the first multi-party elections February 23.

President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, will run against his chief opponent, Kizza Besigye, who was once the president’s physician. The opponent’s campaign is said to have been damaged by intimidation and military interference in the courts. Two of his supporters were shot dead last Wednesday.

With half of Uganda’s national budget coming from western donors, Britain gives nearly £60 million annually. But in response to the president’s chief opponent’s past arrest and jailing, UK withdrew £15m in aid it had given directly to the government and channelled it through the UN.

Christian Aid's major concern is the war in northern Uganda, now in its 20th year. More than one million people are living in camps for displaced people with little access to medical services or education.

“It is inconceivable that, after 20 years, the Ugandan government still has not found a way to end this war. The government has totally failed in its primary duty to protect its civilians,” said Judith Melby, Christian Aid’s Africa specialist who has just returned from Uganda.

|TOP|“The UK government made its displeasure clear over the lack of a peaceful transition to multi-party democracy by withdrawing aid, so surely it can increase its leverage to persuade the Ugandan government to end this bloody conflict.”

The military courts are refusing to abide by a constitutional court ruling that a military court prosecution of Mr Besigye is illegal. The government is also using members of the Ugandan People’s Defence Force to police the election.

“The role of the military must be reviewed and the UK government must finally give its response to the defence review,” said Judith Melby.

The White Paper on Defence Transformation was produced under pressure from the UK’s Department for International Development and its then Secretary of State Clare Short, following the Ugandan government’s diversion of aid funds to the military.

“The Ugandan army is widely perceived as being corrupt, under-resourced and the military arm of the president. The UK government felt it was essential for democracy in Uganda that it become professional and impartial; we need to see action on the White Paper,” said Judith Melby.

Regardless to which party leads the next government in Uganda, Christian Aid believes the UK government must use its influence to promote accountability and integrity in all the state institutions of Uganda.