Besigye charged with treason in Uganda

Prosecutors have charged Uganda's main opposition leader with treason for trying to topple the government, a senior police official said on Monday.

"The director of public prosecutions has sanctioned that Dr Kizza Besigye be charged with treason under Section 23 of the penal code," Major-General Kale Kayhura, inspector general of police, told a news conference.

"Dr Besigye together with 22 others are accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Uganda by force of arms," he said.

The charges and Besigye's arrest came less than three weeks after he returned to Uganda ending four years of exile in South Africa.

If found guilty, Besigye could face the death penalty.

Kayhura said the suspects were also accused of recruiting, mobilising arms and gathering intelligence to wage war against President Yoweri Museveni's 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 with the northern rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kayhura said.

Besigye, once Museveni's doctor and close friend, appeared before the High Court on Monday to hear the charges and was expected to be remanded, Kayhura said.