20110512
Reuters
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye flew home on Thursday, a day after being barred from making the journey, and hours before President Yoweri Museveni was due to be sworn into a fourth term.


Museveni is being inaugurated after winning an election in February in which Besigye was his closest opponent.

Besigye has been defeated by the veteran leader at Uganda's past three presidential elections, which he says have been rigged. He has refused to recognise Museveni as president.

He is expected to hold a prayer meeting to coincide with Museveni's inauguration.

"I think most of the time I will be at home. There are no special plans. We (opposition) intend to have a prayer (session) for our country which I will take part in," Besigye told Reuters as he queued at the check-in desk at Nairobi's main airport.

A Kenya Airways spokesman confirmed that Besigye was on one of its flights and that the plane had left.

Besigye has been arrested four times in Uganda since protests over high fuel and food prices began in April. He had gone to the Kenyan capital Nairobi for medical treatment after being wounded when police detained him two weeks ago.

Museveni, in power for 25 years, has promised to crush the protests, blaming the rising food and fuel costs on drought and global increases in crude oil prices.