UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There is so much freedom in Uganda that it's nearly anarchy, the country's president joked, stepping carefully around what's an open secret back home: Yoweri Museveni will run for yet another term next year, and surely he will win.
Museveni, casual in an untucked dress shirt during an interview in a Waldorf Astoria hotel suite, gave The Associated Press his version of power and succession on the sidelines of his appearance at a high-level U.N. meeting, where he scolded the United States and the other permanent members of the Security Council on their approaches to Africa's problems.
Later Tuesday, with his role on display as the leader of a regional power and one of Africa's most militarized countries, he met with White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice to discuss the conflicts in South Sudan and the Darfur region of Sudan, the White House announced.
Dismissing accusations from critics that his rule over three decades has become more and more authoritarian, far from the days when former President Bill Clinton praised him as one of a "new breed" of reform-minded African leaders, Museveni told the AP, "If anybody has been bullied, it is me."
And as he prepares to turn 71 in September, Museveni appeared little concerned about a possible legal challenge to another presidential term by those who argue he will be too old to be in charge. A new term would take him over Uganda's 75-year-old presidential age limit.
But even as regional neighbor Burundi is shaken by deadly protests over the not-unusual African scenario of a president who wants to run again, Museveni said he will let Uganda's courts decide. Read more
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