Ugandan police on Thursday arrested two top opposition leaders and presidential candidates hoping to challenge veteran President Yoweri Museveni in elections next year, reports said.

Ex-prime minister Amama Mbabazi was arrested in central Uganda, while Kizza Besigye, a leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, was arrested at his home just outside the capital Kampala, the state-owned New Vision newspaper said. Both were understood to be held ahead of campaign rallies they had planned.