KAMPALA – Ugandan police have confirmed the arrest of Kizza Besigye, the main challenger for President Yoweri Museveni.
Police arrested Besigye on Thursday saying he had a hand to the deaths of two protestors during Wednesday’s rally in Rukungiri near the Rwandan border, in which officers clashed with government opponents.
“Besigye and his colleagues led these youths who stoned police and caused deaths,” he said.
It is reported Besigye led a group of people and went head to head with government officials to protest against moves to extend President Yoweri Museveni’s rule.
The anti-Museveni protests started last week following an attempt by the president to reshuffle the constitution so that he remains in power.
According to the Ugandan constitution, anyone over the age of 75 is barred to become the president. This means Museveni, 73, will not qualify for the next presidential elections and his attempt to remove the age ceiling has brought uproar in the country.
Reports say the protests turned violent as officers started to fire bullets and teargases to the protestors which led to the deaths.
Kizza Besigye, who was Museveni’s former physician during the guerrilla struggle has already contested and lost four elections to the long-serving 73-year-old president.
Besigye has claimed that all the elections he lost have been rigged and that Museveni was a corrupt and selfish leader who doesn’t care for his people.
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