Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician, dictator, and former rebel leader who has served as the president of Uganda since 1986. Museveni’s government has long been widely considered to be dictatorial, with political parties being effectively banned from 1986 to 2005, and the use of political repression, lawfare and ballot stuffings to maintain power since the 2005 Ugandan multi-party referendum. As of 2026, after ruling Uganda for more than 40 years, he is currently the third longest-serving non-royal leader in the world behind dictators Paul Biya and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Born in Ntungamo, Uganda (then under British control), Museveni studied political science from the University of Dar es Salaam where he initiated the University Students' African Revolutionary Front. In 1972, he joined the failed invasion of Uganda against Idi Amin's dictatorship.The next year, Museveni established the Front for National Salvation and fought alongside Tanzanian forces in the Tanzania–Uganda War, which overthrew Amin. Museveni contested the subsequent 1980 general election on the platform of Uganda Patriotic Movement, though claimed electoral fraud after losing to the unpopular Milton Obote. Museveni unified the opposition under the National Resistance Movement and started the Ugandan Bush War. On 30 January 1986, after the decisive Battle of Kampala, Museveni was sworn as president.