If the security forces withdraw immediately, Bobi Wine still has at least four days to file a court petition challenging the result of the vote.

If he takes that route, the court must hear and rule on the petition within 30 days.

National Unity Platform officials had told the BBC that a way forward had not been mapped, as they were unable to access their party president.

In a Facebook Live address on Friday, Bobi Wine said that Ugandans had a right to protest if they so wished, though he did not outright call on his supporters to take to the streets.

He is not the first Ugandan opposition leader to be kept under home confinement.

Kizza Besigye was kept under house arrest for more than two months after the 2016 election.

Following the 2011 election, Dr Besigye launched a series of walk-to-work protests, rather than challenge the poll result in court. They were all violently broken up by the security forces.