Leading Rwandan opposition politician Victoire Ingabire has been arrested on accusations of attempting to incite unrest, the country’s top investigative authority said.

The Rwanda Investigation Bureau said on Friday that her arrest was linked to a plot in which nine people, including a well-known YouTube star, were accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

This is not Ms Ingabire’s first run-in with the authorities.

In 2013, she was sentenced to 13 years in prison for conspiracy against the government and incitement to division, among other charges.

She was released in 2018 under a presidential amnesty but was barred from challenging President Paul Kagame in last year’s election.

Mr Kagame, who has ruled Rwanda since 2003, was re-elected for a fourth term with 99 per cent of the vote.

While he is credited with stabilising the East African country following the 1994 genocide, rights organisations accuse him of systematically suppressing dissent, targeting opposition leaders and silencing journalists.

Trials against high-profile opposition figures are also underway in Rwanda’s neighbouring countries, including Uganda and Tanzania.

(dpa/NAN)