Besigye Kidnapped In Nairobi And Now Being Held In Kampala Military Jail, Wife Says

Uganda Opposition leader Kizza Besigye was traced to a military detention centre after he went missing in Nairobi on Saturday, November 16.

He was later traced to a military detention centre in Kampala, Uganda, his wife Winnie Byanyima said.

It is not clear who was behind the incident.

He had come to Nairobi to attend an event organized by Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua, Byanyima said.

Byanyima who is the executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), on Wednesday, asked Uganda’s military to release her husband Besigye from military detention in Kampala where he’s reportedly being held.

He had gone missing in Nairobi where he came to attend a book launch by Kenya’s former Minister for Justice, Martha Karua.

The motive behind the incident is not yet clear.

The four-time presidential contender is said to have gone missing in Kenyan on Saturday.

Officials said that the veteran opposition leader was last seen on Saturday evening at an apartment complex on Riverside Drive in Nairobi.

He had been trailed and abducted before being driven to Uganda, almost 500 kilometers away.

“I request the government of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately. He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon Martha Karua’s book launch. I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala. We his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?” Byanyima posted on her X handle on Wednesday.

Besigye had been booked to stay at a hotel in Hurlingham, which is about 15 minutes by car from the Riverside Drive apartment.

An official at the hotel said Besigye had not returned to the hotel since he left on Saturday.

There was no immediate comment from police authorities in Nairobi.

His disappearance follows the July 23 arrest of 36 Ugandan activists associated with him in Kisumu before they were shipped to Uganda.

The political activists were abducted and ferried back to Uganda where they were charged with treason and remanded to Kitalya Prison.

The activists, who were recently released on bail, pleaded not guilty to the charges and said they were attending a workshop when they were arrested.

The 36 activists claim to have been tortured during their detention.

Kenya has been fighting the abduction claims saying all those being arrested are usually taken to gazette police stations for processing.