KAMPALA, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Yoweri Museveni, who has remained in power for the last two decades as Ugandan president, was on Saturday officially declared winner of the country's first multiparty presidential elections in over 20 years.

    The 62-year-old retired general and leader of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) was born in 1944 in Ntungamo, western Uganda, to an illiterate nomadic family.

    He graduated in political science from Dar es Salaam Universityand briefly worked for president Milton Obote's secret police.

    After Idi Amin's coup in 1971, he went into exile in Tanzania and founded a rebel movement.

    He served as defense minister in the short-lived governments Yusuf Lule and Godfrey Binaisa, but failed to win a parliamentary seat in the 1980 elections.

    In 1981, Museveni went to the bush and launched a five-year guerrilla war. In January 1986, he finally seized power and becamepresident of Uganda.

    During his rule, he had advocated for a frank education campaign against HIV/AIDS and a fair trade deal for African nations, which had won him international acclaims.

    Meanwhile he has been criticized for failing to end 20 years ofwar with the Lord's Resistance Army rebels in the north.

    Some critics also say his 20-year rule has become increasingly autocratic. He banned the multiparty politics in the 1990s arguingthat they were creating divisions among Ugandans. But a referendumin July 2005 voted overwhelmingly for the return of multiparty system. Enditem