Riots in Uganda after opposition leader arrested, charged with treason and rape

KAMPALA – Ugandan authorities arrested and charged with treason the man expected to be President Yoweri Museveni’s main challenger in the country’s first multiparty polls in 20 years.

Opposition leader Kizza Besigye was detained on Monday less than three weeks after he returned to Uganda to a tumultuous welcome after four years of exile in South Africa. Police accused him of plotting rebellion against Museveni’s government, having links to two rebel groups including the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and rape.If convicted, Besigye could be sentenced to death.News of his arrest prompted hundreds of supporters to take to the streets in protests in the capital Kampala that were repeatedly beaten back by riot police firing tear gas.Some protesters threw stones at police and tore down wooden kiosks outside the police station, before setting them alight.Officials from his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party denounced the charges, saying they were politically motivated.”We believe these are just trumped-up charges,” FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu told Reuters.”Museveni is just trying to remove him from campaigning and from standing in the election because he knows Besigye will defeat him.”Besigye appeared in court on Monday to hear the charges and was remanded in custody.He was due to appear before the high court yesterday.”The director of public prosecutions has sanctioned that Dr Kizza Besigye be charged with treason under section 23 of the penal code,” the inspector general of police, Major-General Kale Kayhura, told a news conference.”His public statements, justifying violence and refusing to renounce armed rebellion, confirmed the suspicion he was actively involved in acts of war against Uganda,” he added.Besigye was once Museveni’s doctor and close friend, and his ally during the bush war that propelled Museveni to power in 1986.But after they fell out, Besigye became Museveni’s biggest opponent.He fled the country in August 2001, saying the government was trying to kill him after he lost to Museveni in violence-marred elections in that year.He was chosen as FDC presidential candidate for polls due next March and had attracted large crowds since his return to Uganda on Oct.26.The elections will be the first multiparty polls in 20 years after Ugandans voted in a referendum in July to end a ban imposed by Museveni on political parties.Museveni, who had been barred by the constitution from standing again next year, is widely expected to run after parliament voted overwhelmingly to abolish term limits.His Movement party holds its delegates conference this week, and will almost certainly pick the 62-year-old former rebel as its presidential candidate.Kayhura said Besigye, a retired colonel, and 22 other suspects were accused of recruiting, mobilising arms and gathering intelligence to wage war against the government under the cover of the Congo-based rebel People’s Redemption Army.In addition to the treason charges, Besigye and the other defendants were accused of having links to the LRA, which has been waging a brutal war in the north.Besigye was also charged with raping a woman in an incident that prosecutors say took place in 1997.- Nampa-ReutersPolice accused him of plotting rebellion against Museveni’s government, having links to two rebel groups including the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and rape.If convicted, Besigye could be sentenced to death.News of his arrest prompted hundreds of supporters to take to the streets in protests in the capital Kampala that were repeatedly beaten back by riot police firing tear gas.Some protesters threw stones at police and tore down wooden kiosks outside the police station, before setting them alight.Officials from his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party denounced the charges, saying they were politically motivated.”We believe these are just trumped-up charges,” FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu told Reuters.”Museveni is just trying to remove him from campaigning and from standing in the election because he knows Besigye will defeat him.”Besigye appeared in court on Monday to hear the charges and was remanded in custody.He was due to appear before the high court yesterday.”The director of public prosecutions has sanctioned that Dr Kizza Besigye be charged with treason under section 23 of the penal code,” the inspector general of police, Major-General Kale Kayhura, told a news conference.”His public statements, justifying violence and refusing to renounce armed rebellion, confirmed the suspicion he was actively involved in acts of war against Uganda,” he added.Besigye was once Museveni’s doctor and close friend, and his ally during the bush war that propelled Museveni to power in 1986.But after they fell out, Besigye became Museveni’s biggest opponent.He fled the country in August 2001, saying the government was trying to kill him after he lost to Museveni in violence-marred elections in that year.He was chosen as FDC presidential candidate for polls due next March and had attracted large crowds since his return to Uganda on Oct.26.The elections will be the first multiparty polls in 20 years after Ugandans voted in a referendum in July to end a ban imposed by Museveni on political parties.Museveni, who had been barred by the constitution from standing again next year, is widely expected to run after parliament voted overwhelmingly to abolish term limits.His Movement party holds its delegates conference this week, and will almost certainly pick the 62-year-old former rebel as its presidential candidate.Kayhura said Besigye, a retired colonel, and 22 other suspects were accused of recruiting, mobilising arms and gathering intelligence to wage war against the government under the cover of the Congo-based rebel People’s Redemption Army.In addition to the treason charges, Besigye and the other defendants were accused of having links to the LRA, which has been waging a brutal war in the north.Besigye was also charged with raping a woman in an incident that prosecutors say took place in 1997.- Nampa-Reuters