Ugandan police fired teargas to disperse thousands of supporters of opposition leader Kizza Besigye while Yoweri Museveni was being sworn in for a fourth term as president today.
Mr Museveni was inaugurated after securing a comfortable election win in February which Mr Besigye, the veteran leader's closest opponent, alleges was rigged.
The ceremony was attended by the leaders of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and South Sudan. Mr Besigye and other opposition leaders have refused to recognise Mr Museveni as president.
Opposition supporters, who walked next to Mr Besigye's car as it moved from the airport to the capital Kampala after his return from hospital in Kenya, fled as police also used water cannon to scatter them.
They later regrouped and continued their march to the capital where Mr Museveni was being inaugurated.
Mr 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.
Mr 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.
Uganda discovered oil along its western border with Congo in 2006 and commercial production is expected in 2012, bringing a flow of cash that the president has promised will be used to develop his poverty-stricken country.
Reuters