By Tim Cocks
KAMPALA (Reuters) - For President Yoweri Museveni, the 53-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Uganda is about to host, is a chance to put his nation on the map, attract foreign investment and lure tourists.
But for the east African nation's main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), the meeting starting on Friday is an opportunity to draw the world's attention to what it says are regular and gross abuses of its citizens' freedoms.
The FDC plans to test the police by holding demonstrations.
"We want Uganda's human rights record on the agenda at CHOGM," FDC member of parliament Beti Kamya told Reuters.
"We are disappointed with the international community for entrenching this dictatorship for their own interests."
A close ally of the West, Museveni was once seen as a new breed of African leader bringing an end to self-serving 'Big Man' politics. But in recent years, he has disillusioned many donors with what they say is an increasingly autocratic style.
He disappointed them -- and many Ugandans -- in 2005 when he persuaded a majority of his electorate to change the constitution to allow him to run for office indefinitely, potentially opening the way for life presidency.
The government's iron-fisted treatment of the opposition -- political demonstrators regularly face police armed with batons, shooting live rounds into the air and firing salvos of tear gas canisters -- has drawn anger at home and abroad.
In April, military police stormed the High Court to seize treason suspects the court had released on bail, beating a lawyer in the second such court assault in two years.
The opposition is furious that the Commonwealth appears to have let slip undemocratic misdeeds, two years after raising concerns that opposition leader Kizza Besigye had been arrested for politically motivated reasons.
"We have no respect for the Commonwealth," Kamya said. "We have tried to talk to them but they don't listen."
A Museveni spokesman, Tamale Mirundi, denied claims of abuses, saying Uganda's respect for human rights was evident in the fact that opposition parties have been allowed to demonstrate during the meeting.
Diplomats privately admit donors have been willing to overlook some of the government's excesses, preferring to focus on Uganda's record on macroeconomic stability, a positive investment climate and annual growth of 6 percent for 20 years.
Talk of Uganda's democratic shortcomings is likely to be overshadowed at this week's meeting by Pakistan, which faces suspension from the Commonwealth unless President Pervez Musharraf lifts a state of emergency by Thursday.
Musharraf, who is not expected to attend, has said he cannot do this for security reasons.
Critics say Museveni is also guilty of some aspects about Musharraf that upset the Commonwealth -- refusing to take off his military uniform while president and banning demonstrations.
The Commonwealth is unlikely to address Uganda's democratic record -- except perhaps to highlight the good points. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has said Uganda addressed many of the body's concerns over democracy.
"You've only just introduced multi-party politics into your own parliamentary system ... many of your opposition leaders here have indicated their support for CHOGM," he told reporters.
