UGANDA’S MAIN opposition leader Kizza Besigye was prevented from leaving his home yesterday after police accused him of trying to join a protest march they said was potentially destructive.
After leaving his house in the north of the capital, Kampala, by car, the leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party was told by police he was being placed under preventive arrest. They gave him the choice of returning home or going to prison.
“He was told that the police had information that if he went any further, he would cause a breach of the peace, so turned back,” said FDC spokeswoman Anne Mugisha. She accused the government of putting him under house arrest.
The authorities said he was asked to turn around or go to a police station so that protests, which have paralysed Kampala for several weeks, would not escalate. He would be allowed leave his home “when the situation has normalised”, said police spokesman Vincent Sekate.
Dr Besigye, who has been arrested four times since “walk to work” protests against rising fuel and food prices began six weeks ago, returned to Uganda last week after medical treatment in neighbouring Kenya. A doctor who formerly attended Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, Dr Besigye broke a hand and suffered severe burns to his eyes from pepper spray last month when he was arrested during a demonstration.
He has said he will continue to protest. Speaking from his home, he said the protests “do not revolve around me . . . They cross all political formations.”
The government claims Dr Besigye is trying to organise an Egyptian-style uprising against Mr Museveni, who has been president of Uganda since 1986. As a new session of parliament opened, the president urged MPs to change the law so people accused of rioting and economic sabotage would be denied bail for six months.
After the violent crushing of recent protests, it is feared the new law could be used to frustrate Dr Besigye and detain journalists, 10 of whom were assaulted by security services last week, according to Reporters Without Borders.
On Wednesday, in a letter published in the state-owned New Visionnewspaper, Mr Museveni described local and foreign media as "enemies of Uganda's recovery" because of the way they covered the protests. He accused several news outlets, including the BBC and al-Jazeera, of cheering on "these irresponsible people".