More than 400 Ugandan inmates escaped from a prison this weekend, as officers celebrated President Yoweri Museveni's election triumph. As officers celebrated in Arua, north-west of the capital, inmates pulled down a fence and ran to freedom.

"They escaped right after the announcement that President Museveni had won and the celebration was noisy," prisons chief Johnson Byabasaija said.

Many local residents fled fearing war had erupted when they heard gun shots. The incident is the second recent election-related jailbreak.

On election day last week, some 80 prisoners in northern Uganda escaped from a work party - having taking advantage of distractions over voting and the transfer of prison guards to protect polling stations. Security forces are still trying to recapture the Arua escapees, who include five people convicted on treason charges, the prisons chief told AFP news agency.

A Ugandan radio station reports that 60 of the inmates have been recaptured.