Besigye, comrade remanded after disappearing in Nairobi

Uganda presidential aspirant Kizza Besigye. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Four-time Uganda presidential aspirant Kizza Besigye together with Haajj Obed were on Wednesday, November 20, afternoon charged with having firearms and ammunition in a Uganda court after going missing from Nairobi on Saturday, November 17.

The two were remanded until December 2, 2024, when their case will be mentioned.

They were charged with four counts of illegal possession of two pistols, and rounds of ammunition and soliciting funds to prejudice the security of the Defence Forces.

It emerged that they were kidnapped and taken to Uganda where they were held at a military facility.

Besigye and Obed were arraigned at the Makindye Military Court chaired by Brigadier Freeman Mugabe.

They were accused of committing the offences in Athens, Geneva and Nairobi.

In the first count, Besigye, Obed and others not before the court between October 2023 and November 2024 held meetings in the three cities to solicit funds aimed at offering logistical support and identifying military targets to prejudice Defence Forces security.

In the second and third counts, the two are accused of being in possession of two pistols model 27KAL No.765 and HB 1014 1953, at the Nairobi’s Riverside apartments which they said is ordinarily the monopoly of the Defence Forces.

In the fourth count, the two men were accused of having eight rounds of pistol ammunition at the same apartment which are ordinarily the monopoly of the Defence Forces.

Before

Before the kidnapping incident, the two meant to attend Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua’s book launch.

Dr Besigye said that he had not spoken to anyone including his lawyers ever since he was kidnapped from Nairobi.

"I was only informed that I am coming to court a few minutes ago, I have not been in contact with any persons since we were arrested from Nairobi," he said.

Earlier in the day, his wife Winnie Byanyima, broke the news of the abduction from Nairobi saying that she had been reliably informed that Besigye was held in a military camp in Kampala, Uganda.

“We his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?” she posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“I request the govt of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately.”

Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei did not respond to calls or text messages over the matter.

The Ugandan government had lied to media outlets in the country that they did not have Besigye in custody and were yet to establish his whereabouts.

Karua and the Pan African Opposition Leaders Solidarity Network had in a statement called on Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni and William Ruto to come clean on the circumstances under which Besigye was abducted and taken to Uganda.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Besigye by his captors who we believe are Kenyan and Ugandan security agencies and an end to cooperation by both counties on these inhuman and illegal practises that violate both municipal and international law, and which are informed by intimidation, malice and impunity,” read their statement.

The lobby group said that Besigye flew to Kenya on Saturday, November 17, and checked into the Waridi Paradise Hotel and Suites.

He then took a taxi the same day to attend a meeting at the 108 Riverside Apartments and left the driver at the parking.

The driver reportedly waited for him for more than 12 hours before leaving the following day at 4am after receiving no responses to his numerous calls and messages.

His whereabouts ever since he was dropped for the meeting remained unknown until his wife tweeted about his detention and he was later arraigned in court alongside Obed.

“We suspect that Dr Besigye may have been abducted after he was dropped at the Riverside apartments, most likely by Ugandan authorities working in cahoots with and facilitation from Kenyan authorities,” says the statement.

The opposition leaders challenged the National Police Service to account for Besigye who disappeared from Kenya.

“We hold both the governments of Kenya and Uganda responsible for the safety and whereabouts of Dr Besigye and challenge them to conduct their cross-border operation in accordance with their respective law and international law,” the leaders said.

“Abductions/kidnappings by state security forces are not the legal way for cooperation between Uganda and Kenya. This is in violation of local and international law."

Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine said the abduction news is of great concern.

“As we call for his immediate release, we condemn this blatant abuse of the law by the regime here in Uganda, and sadly the authorities in Kenya,” he said on X.

He added; “We are back to the dark days when Ugandans were casually picked from the streets of Nairobi and returned to Uganda to be tortured, jailed and others executed.”

The statement from the region’s opposition leaders also condemned the abduction of 36 Ugandans on July 23, 2024, in Kisumu County by armed men who took them back to Uganda.

“This emerging pattern of abduction/kidnapping of foreign nationals from Kenyan soil, followed by illegal and forced return and detention in their home countries does not bode well, especially for us in East Africa.”

The 36 were politicians and members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Party and were picked after they finished a meeting at the Ukweli Pastoral Center.

The guest house is located on the outskirts of Kisumu City along the Kisumu-Kakamega highway.

This move drew the ire of Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o who condemned the act.

“Although the County Government of Kisumu has no link with the politicians, we condemn in the strongest terms possible the Human Rights violations meted out against them within the territory of Kisumu County,” said Nyong’o.

According to the governor, after the meeting, the rooms where the 36 were staying, were broken into by people believed to be Ugandan security agencies working with their Kenyan counterparts.

The politicians were assaulted and arrested before the officers took their electronic gadgets and drove them back to Uganda in the middle of the night.

He said that Kenya should clarify why Kenyan officers were involved in the raid since they touched on a violation of the Human Rights of the individuals.

According to the region’s opposition leaders, the politicians had been allowed to enter the country legally by immigration officials only to be arrested in Kenya and rendered to Uganda.

They condemned the Museveni-led administration telling him to come out and tell the world what crime the 36 had committed and why his government could not follow the due process.

He challenged the Kenyan police to provide detailed information on how the incident took place.

Besigye’s abduction comes just a few weeks after that of six Turkish nationals residing in Kenya as protected refugees by the United Nations.

Mustafa Genc, Huseyin Yesila, Ozturk Uzun, Alpaslan Tasci, Necdet Seyitoglu and two others were all abducted at different times from Kilimani, Nairobi.

Seyitoglu who is also a British national Necdet Seyitoglu was freed after identifying himself as a Briton.

Also freed was a woman and her child.

Days later PS Sing’oei said that Genc, Yesila, Uzun and Tasci had been handed over to the Turkish government over treasonous charges they were facing back home.

“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has received assurance from the Turkish authorities that the four will be treated with dignity in keeping with the national and international law,” he said at the time.

Others who have been kidnapped and rendered or went missing on Kenyan soil are Ethiopia’s Samson Tecklemichael, Nigeria’s Nnamdi Kanu, Selahaddin Gulen, South Sudan’s Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak and Seth Sendashonga.

Others are Dong Samuel Luak, Aggrey Idri Ezibon and Abdullah Ocalan.

Some of the dissidents who have been killed on Kenyan soil are Pakistani’s Arshad Sharif and Rwanda’s Theoneste Lizinde and Augustin Bugirimfura.