Will the U.S. Still Back Uganda’s Museveni Despite Another Sham Election? (World Politics Review - January 25)

In Washington, Jeffrey Smith, founding director of the advocacy nonprofit Vanguard Africa, has doubled down on calls for the government to reevaluate its dealings with Uganda. “There needs to be a review of U.S. policy towards Uganda, including a comprehensive review of the millions of dollars we provide on an annual basis to their security forces and military,” said Smith, who has worked closely with Wine for the past three years, connecting him with journalists and politicians in the U.S.

Uganda Places Opposition Leader Under House Arrest as US, Canadian Criticism Rises (Globe and Mail – January 18)

Jeffrey Smith, head of Vanguard Africa, a U.S.-based democracy advocacy group that has worked closely with Mr. Kyagulanyi, said the statements by [Biden’s incoming national security adviser] “are a powerful indication that the new administration might elevate human rights and democracy promotion from their current place, in the basement, to their rightful places as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy.”

Mr. Biden has also nominated several other human-rights advocates to key posts in his administration, which “bodes well for the future,” Mr. Smith told The Globe.

Bobi Wine to Legally Contest Uganda Vote, Urges Nonviolence (Al Jazeera – January 17)

Jeffrey Smith, founding director of the pro-democracy group Vanguard Africa, said he had been in contact with Bobi Wine.

“Ideally in this circumstance, you’d be speaking to Bobi Wine himself or one of his colleagues, but due to the ongoing internet shutdown in the country and the ongoing restriction of information, obviously you’re unable to do that,” Smith told Al Jazeera.

Uganda Forces Surround Home of Opposition Leader Bobi Wine (New York Times – January 15, 2021)

The news of the break-in was confirmed by Jeffrey Smith, founder of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit based in Washington that has worked with Mr. Wine for three years. In an interview, Mr. Smith said he got a call from Mr. Wine after 4:30 p.m. Kampala time during which he heard “lots of shouting and banging.” During the call, which lasted five minutes, Mr. Wine told him that security officers had assaulted some of his staff members and arrested a gardener, Mr. Smith said.

If he wins Uganda election, Museveni will work with his seventh US president. Here's how the US has helped him stay in power. (CNN - January 13)

During a live virtual press conference — hosted by Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit promoting democracy in African countries — a stunned global audience watched as singer-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, was forcibly removed from his vehicle by Ugandan police as gunshots were fired.

Vanguard Africa Joins Global Luminaries to Demand Free and Fair Vote in Uganda (January 12)

We proudly join this initiative alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureates Wole Soyinka, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, artists like Femi Kuti, Peter Gabriel and Chris Martin, as well as academics like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Together, we urgently call on world leaders and citizens of good conscience to demand that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commit to holding a free and fair election on January 14, one that is free from further violence and adequately reflects the will of the voting public.

A Secretive Company Needed to Convince Washington That Congo’s Election Would be “Free and Fair.” It Found A Friendly Ear Among Trump Allies (Buzzfeed – December 30)

“The confluence of lobbying work and security experts is really concerning but not surprising,” said Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit that supports democracy movements on the continent. “For so long US foreign policy has been based around this notion of stability and security, oftentimes at the expense of human rights and democracy. But when you deny a free and fair vote, you’re planting the seeds of instability in the long term. It’s reinforcing this notion that leaders who steal elections are somehow good or somehow provide stability and security.”

In Cameroon, Journalists Can’t Breathe as Obnoxious Laws Stifle Press Freedom (News Watch Cameroon – December 23)

Jeffrey Smith, Founding Director of Vanguard Africa, a Washington DC-based pro-democracy advocacy group, says truth, facts and objectivity are a dictator’s worst enemy while a free media and an informed citizenry represent their kryptonite.

“This is why leaders like Paul Biya, who have failed their citizens for generations, need to silence or quite literally kill journalists. It’s because they expose him for the supreme failure that he is,” Smith said.