By Elias Biryabarema and Justin Dralaze
KAMPALA (Reuters) - One person was killed when Ugandan police clashed with opposition supporters who attacked cars carrying African leaders at the inauguration of President Yoweri Museveni, officials and police said.
A convoy carrying Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan was among the vehicles stoned by the crowd, said Uganda's government.
Museveni, in power for 25 years, was sworn in for a fourth term on Thursday after winning February elections that opposition parties said were rigged.
Since the vote, opposition leaders including Kizza Besigye have led a series of often violent protests against high food and fuel prices.
On Thursday, Besigye's supporters clashed with police as the crowd escorted the opposition leader from Entebbe airport into Kampala.
Police said they had to move in after crowds started throwing stones at other vehicles carrying guests at the inauguration.
"President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria's convoy was attacked by Doctor Besigye's supporters as it was heading to Entebbe State House for the luncheon with the President," said Fred Opolot, director of the government media centre.
"Unfortunately, a (motorcyclist) who was crossing (near) the president's car was shot dead. The security forces mostly used rubber bullets. But he really posed a threat to a foreign dignitary who happened to be a head of state."
Besigye has been arrested four times since protests began in April. He was returning to Uganda from Kenya, where he had received hospital treatment for injuries suffered during his last arrest, his supporters said.
Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakoba said crowds threw stones and pulled mirrors from cars ferrying dignitaries back to the airport after the ceremony.
Security forces doused Besigye's supporters in tear gas and beat them with whips and truncheons, blocking them from entering the city centre where they said they planned to hold a prayer meeting, said a Reuters witness.
Earlier in the day, Besigye and his wife Winnie stood up through the sun-roof of their car and waved to several thousand ululating supporters.
The crowds made V-for-victory signs amid a heavy security presence along the 40 km road leading to the capital Kampala, where the inauguration was taking place.
Anne Mugisha, deputy foreign secretary for Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change, said Besigye later went home because police were unable to control the crowds.
During the ceremony, a different, jubilant crowd cheered as Museveni, sporting his trademark rancher's hat, was sworn in, flanked by the leaders of Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and South Sudan.
In his speech, Museveni said food prices would come down following an expected bumper harvest, and accused others of being desperate for power and resorting to disruptive schemes. "Those disruptive schemes will be defeated," he said.
DONOR HANDS TIED
Analysts say Museveni has picked a fight with Besigye, confident donors will not criticise his tactics too much because Ugandan troops from the backbone of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia.
"Museveni knows that as unpalatable as the actions of his regime may be, the donor states cannot afford to turn on him as long as he spares them having to deal with Somalia themselves," said J. Peter Pham, Africa analyst at the Atlantic Council.
Other regional experts said Museveni, widely regarded as an astute political leader, would be wary of alarming foreign investors developing the east African country's oil reserves.
Uganda struck oil on its western border with Congo in 2006 and commercial production is expected in 2012, bringing a flow of cash that Museveni promised will be used to transform his poverty-stricken country to a middle-income state by 2016.
Besigye was Museveni's doctor during the guerrilla war that swept the rebel leader to power in 1986, but the two fell out and have been rivals ever since.
(Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Nairobi, Barry Malone and Maya Prabhu in Kampala; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
