President Museveni's 1985 Words on State Violence Resurface Amid Journalist Attacks. Ironically, today, the same accusations are being directed at Museveni's own government.

President Yoweri Museveni once justified his decision to take up arms in the 1980s as a response to what he termed state-inspired violence.

Nearly four decades later, his words are being revisited as Uganda grapples with accusations of human rights violations, particularly in the wake of the Kawempe North by-election, where journalists faced brutal assaults.

Speaking in Luwero in 1985, Museveni said, "I was not a soldier, I was an intellectual. Why did I become a soldier? To defend myself and my people against state-inspired violence."

He accused past regimes of killing Ugandans, including Milton Obote's government, which he claimed had blocked all peaceful avenues for change.

"If you have got a government which has closed off all other channels of peaceful change, what else could we do except to surrender to slavery? And we couldn't do that," he argued.

Museveni credited popular support for fueling the war, claiming Ugandans urged them to fight.

Ironically, today, the same accusations are being directed at Museveni's own government.

Security forces have been accused of abductions, press repression, and extrajudicial killings, with critics comparing the current administration to those he fought to overthrow.

The events surrounding the Kawempe North by-election reflect these concerns. Journalists covering the vote were attacked, their equipment seized by masked security operatives, forcing many to abandon their work.

Museveni once stated that a "popular cause, backed by irregular armies, can build enough strength to overwhelm the enemy."

As tensions rise, it remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself.