Ugandan opposition leader released on bond

Kampala - Ugandan police have released top opposition leader Kizza Besigye on bond after arresting him in connection with the death of a police officer, his political party said on Thursday.

Anne Mugisha, deputy foreign secretary for Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), said he was freed late on Wednesday after being charged with convening an unlawful assembly.

Over the past year, Besigye, who has failed three times to oust President Yoweri Museveni at the ballot box, has spearheaded a wave of “walk-to-work” protests in the east African country over the high cost of living and corruption.

The government has cracked down hard on the demonstrations and detained Besigye on several occasions.

“(He was) released on bond but on an understanding that he will be under preventive arrest,” Mugisha told Reuters, explaining that effectively meant Museveni's former close political ally would have his movements severely restricted.

Besigye was allowed to travel from his home in the outskirts of the capital to his city centre office on Thursday, but only under a police escort.

A police spokeswoman denied Besigye was under preventative arrest but said he was expected to report to the police on Thursday.

The opposition leader, who is popular in urban areas, was among 16 people police said they arrested after a senior officer was killed by a rock hurled from a crowd of Besigye supporters.

Besigye told Reuters in January he planned to quit as party head and spend more time organising anti-Museveni protests.

“Wherever he goes, a crowd forms spontaneously. And since the government is jittery about a people's revolution following their election fraud last year, they're keen to prevent him from gaining any space to start that revolution,” Mugisha said.

The government says the election was free and fair.

The authorities have previously accused Besigye of inciting unrest. In October, they sought to keep him under house arrest until he promised to stop taking part in anti-government protests. A court said the house arrest would be illegal.

Separately, the New York-based media freedom watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), condemned what it said were police assaults on two journalists covering Besigye's arrest.

“Covering opposition party issues is not a crime. Ugandan police must stop arbitrarily attacking journalists simply for doing their job,” CPJ's east Africa consultant, Tom Rhodes, said in a statement.

Press freedom groups say attacks on journalists by security officers in Uganda have risen since the anti-government protests erupted last year and that those cases are rarely investigated. - Reuters