Ugandan opposition politician ‘kidnapped’ in Kenya, taken to military jail

Prominent Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye has been kidnapped in neighbouring Kenya and taken to a military jail in Uganda, according to his wife.

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), called on the Ugandan government, in a post on X, to release her husband immediately.

He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to attend a book launch event of another politician, according to Byanyima.

“I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala,” she wrote. “We his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?”

The Ugandan government and military have not commented on the incident.

Besigye is scheduled to appear before a military court on Wednesday, one of his lawyers said.

“The latest information we have is Besigye is in military cells in Kampala and the army is planning to produce him in the General Court Martial today,” Erias Lukwago told the AFP news agency, quoting sources within the military.

“We are yet to establish the charges against him,” he added.

Ugandan police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told the Reuters news agency that the police do not have him and cannot comment on his whereabouts.