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Security forces in Uganda have detained more than 300 supporters and officials from the party of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine since campaigning for a January election kicked off last month, his party's spokesperson said Tuesday.Pop star-turned-politician Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is challenging 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni for the second time after coming second in the last election in 2021.Now Africa's fourth longest-ruling leader, Museveni's government has changed the constitution twice to remove age and term limits, allowing him to remain in office since 1986.The arrests included scores detained this week in the capital Kampala, where Wine began campaigning on Monday, Joel Ssenyonyi, spokesperson for Wine's party National Unity Platform (NUP), told Reuters."Over 300 have been detained since the campaigns started. The regime is in panic, they are resorting to arrests to deter and instil fear in our people," Ssenyonyi said.The majority of those detained are ordinary supporters but also include campaign co-ordinators, Wine's aides and other officials, he said.Police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.At a rally in Kampala's Kawempe area on Monday security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a crowd of Wine's supporters, video aired by local broadcaster NTV showed.A video posted on Wine's X account late on Monday also showed police using pepper spray on his supporters. A man in plain clothes who approached from the side of the security personnel was seen beating supporters using a cane.At least 100 people were arrested on Monday and dozens more detained Tuesday at another rally on the outskirts of Kampala, Ssenyonyi said.Police said in a statement late on Monday that they had detained seven people after clashes with Wine's supporters, accusing them of throwing stones and injuring seven officers."Security personnel responded by using public order measures to control rowdy crowds," the statement said.Wine says Museveni won the last election through ballot-stuffing, intimidation of voters, bribery and other rigging tactics. Ruling party officials have dismissed the accusation.If he wins a new five-year term, Museveni will extend his rule in the East African country to nearly half a century.

Bobi Wine, the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni's 40-year rule in Uganda, drew vast crowds as he brought his campaign to the capital Kampala Monday ahead of January's election.Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is a 43-year-old singer turned politician who has become hugely popular among Ugandan young people but faces a deeply entrenched political machine led by the 81-year-old Museveni.Tens of thousands swarmed around Wine's motorcade as it moved around Kampala's suburbs for the first time since he confirmed his second run for the presidency.Wine said he began the day at the Luzira maximum security prison just outside the city, where several officials and supporters of his National Unity Platform are being held."The time has come for the dictator to go," Wine told a roaring crowd in one suburb, who waved placards, banners and flowers in his party's red and black."I have just been to Luzira and I met some of your parents, brothers and sisters, your uncles and aunties who are in prison because they hold different political opinions and support the change we want," he said."(They) told me they are in prison but their spirit is not broken and the call for change is not negotiable, but a must," he added.Hundreds of heavily armed police and military personnel manned the route, which passed through the streets despite an earlier police order to keep rallies to designated zones to avoid blocking roads.Police used teargas at one location in a bid to prevent them from reaching the next campaign stop, an AFP journalist saw.Wine lost to Museveni in 2021 elections that were marred by widespread reports of irregularities and severe violence from security forces.He has been arrested numerous times and has alleged torture in police and military custody.Museveni's son and Ugandan army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has repeatedly threatened to behead Wine on social media.The president's campaign has focused on "protecting the gains" of his four-decade rule and "driving Uganda to high middle-income status". Currently, around one in six people live in poverty in the East African nation.Museveni remains popular for having liberated the country from brutal dictatorial rule in the 1980s, but is accused of increasing authoritarianism of his own in later years.Last year, another long-time political rival, Kizza Besigye, was abducted in neighbouring Kenya and brought to Uganda where he faces a trial for treason and the potential death penalty.

Two missing Kenyan activists have been released after they vanished in Uganda where they were attending a political opposition event, legal and rights groups said Saturday.Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo went missing in October after travelling to the neighbouring east African nation to support Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, who intends to run against long-time incumbent Yoweri Museveni in elections next year.In a brief joint statement on X, rights groups Amnesty Kenya, Vocal Africa and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) said they "welcome the release of Nicholas Oyoo and Bob Njagi last night in Busia after 38 days of their enforced disappearance".The statement, posted by LSK head Faith Odhiambo, did not give any further details but said they were "facilitating their transfer to Nairobi".It expressed thanks to human rights groups, as well as to the foreign ministries and to active citizens who "tirelessly campaigned for this moment".Oyoo's older brother, Nobert Ochieng, 53, said his family was "elated" at the news."It was a big relief, because it's been a very tormenting and difficult month for us," he said.Kenya's foreign minister Musalia Mudavadi confirmed that the two were released late Friday after "sustained diplomatic engagement".Arrangements were underway to "ensure the two Kenyans reunite safely with their families", he added in a post on X.The pair went missing last month, with the Ugandan police denying either activist was in custody.Rights groups and the men's families in Kenya have agitated for their return, appealing to the Uganda court and urging the government to disclose their whereabouts.The head of Kenyan rights group Vocal Africa, Hussein Khalid, said last month that eyewitnesses had reported that the two men were taken by "masked, uniformed and armed men, suggesting strong evidence of state involvement in their disappearance."It is our suspicion that the two may be detained alongside other Ugandan political detainees in military facilities," he said.Dozens of government critics and opposition figures have been abducted in recent years across east Africa, and rights groups allege authorities are failing to protect their own citizens and even working together against activists.In May, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire say they were abducted and tortured by security forces in Tanzania, and received little support from their own governments.