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Uganda opposition says Besigye's whereabout unknown

Arrest

The leader of the opposition in Uganda’s Parliament, Wafula Oguttu, has told Africanews, they do not know the whereabout of Kizza Besigye, the main opposition leader.

Besigye was arrested on Wednesday, when he made a surprised visit to Kampala, after his party swore him in as president.

“He went downtown to greet people, (his supporters), he was arrested or taken away, we don’t know where he was taken to but we heard stories that he was banished to the extreme end of the country about 55 kilometres away from here, in Karamoja, we haven’t established that.” said Wafula Oguttu, of the Forum for Democratic Change.

Media reports suggest that Besigye was flown to north-east of the Karamojo region.

Oguttu was speaking in an interview on the Africanews’s Morning Call said the defiant campaign was not to worsen the political crisis in the country, rather to get President Museveni to dialogue.

“Our aim is not to aggravate the situation, our aim is to cause the government of Mr. Museveni to see sense for dialogue with citizens and not to use force, our army and police to run our country by force.

The People's President is still locked up in an unknown place. We demand that he is freed. #freemyPresident

— FDC Official (@FDCOfficial1) May 12, 2016

Kizza Besigye who has said President Museveni’s victory was a ‘sham’ had called for protest to disrupt the swearing in ceremony on Thursday.

The inauguration ceremony went ahead with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Sudan’s Omar Bashir, South Africa President Jacob Zuma and Tanzania John Magufuli gracing the occasion.