According to police, an American citizen was detained in Uganda on suspicion of subversion against the government.
Guy Smith was arrested on Sunday in the western town of Fort Portal by a specialist security team for “alleged involvement in anti-government subversive activities” and is being held in Kampala, according to police.
Smith’s wife, Sharon Tusiime, said the 63-year-old retired builder was taken from their home in the early hours of Sunday. Smith is originally from Kentucky and has lived in Uganda for more than 20 years.
She said that her husband was taken away by armed men in plain clothes in a vehicle known as a “drone” in Uganda, which is a truck with blacked-out windows and no number plate.
According to Nation Africa, hundreds of members of the opposition National Unity Platform have allegedly been rounded up by security forces, with many being dumped in remote areas days or weeks later after being burnt, electrocuted, and getting their fingernails plucked out.
President Yoweri Museveni has acknowledged that civilians have been detained by the military and other security forces for allegedly plotting against the state.
However, the US State Department said in a statement that it had received reports of a US citizen being detained in Uganda and that it was prepared to provide consular assistance.
