What we find out about Ugandan opposition chief’s detention

The mysterious detention of Uganda’s opposition chief Kizza Besigye whereas on a go to to Kenya practically two weeks in the past has sparked widespread condemnation and fears of a clandestine change of intelligence between the 2 neighbours.

Besigye’s allies and spouse have come out to disclose harrowing particulars of how the opposition chief was apparently lured to satisfy his abductors, mentioned to have disguised themselves as Kenyan safety brokers.

Experiences say he was spied on from the time he boarded a airplane at Entebbe airport in Uganda for Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, the place he was picked up, earlier than someway being transferred to a army court docket again residence with none extradition proceedings.

Whereas Kenya insists it performed no position and is investigating the incident, Uganda holds that Kenya was absolutely conscious of the plan, citing intelligence correspondence geared toward monitoring Besigye down.

As he is because of return to army court docket in Kampala, we piece collectively what we all know to date.

Besigye has contested and misplaced 4 presidential elections towards President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in energy since 1986.

He has been much less energetic in politics lately, and didn’t contest the 2021 election.

However earlier this yr, he fashioned a brand new celebration, the Folks’s Entrance for Freedom (PFF) after breaking away from the Discussion board for Democratic Change (FDC), which he based twenty years in the past.

The opposition politician has for years travelled to Kenya and moved freely, typically to attend high-profile occasions – even whereas he remained Museveni’s foremost challenger and largest critic.

This time, Besigye travelled to Nairobi to attend the launch of a guide by Kenyan opposition politician Martha Karua.

The 68-year-old landed within the metropolis on the morning of 16 November and took a taxi to his lodge within the prosperous suburb of Hurlingham. He was accompanied by long-term ally Hajj Obeid Lutale.

Just a few hours later, he left the lodge, boarded a taxi and headed to Riverside Drive, some 5km (three miles) from his lodge, for a personal assembly, in response to his political allies.

This was the final time he was seen till he re-emerged in Uganda 4 days later.

His taxi driver mentioned he waited for the veteran politician for greater than 12 hours, earlier than deciding to depart when he was unable to cellphone him.

Besigye’s crew in Uganda began relaying misery calls after their chief’s cell phones went unanswered.

His disappearance hit the headlines and raised eyebrows within the area, along with his spouse Winnie Byanyima, the pinnacle of the UN’s organisation to deal with HIV and Aids, taking to social media to report that her husband had been “kidnapped” in Nairobi.

The following day, his reserved seat on the guide launch, the place he was anticipated to be the visitor speaker, remained empty with organisers elevating the alarm about his absence.

Besigye and his buddy Lutale arrived on the house alongside Riverside Drive the place he was as a result of meet an unidentified Ugandan nationwide and one other unknown British nationwide, in response to Ms Byanyima.

The British nationwide supposedly needed to introduce Besigye to a gaggle of colleagues and businessmen, who had expressed an curiosity in financially backing the PFF, she mentioned.

Within the room there was a field of what gave the impression to be a stash of cash. One of many hosts had two weapons.

Shortly after a short introduction, eight males in plain garments who mentioned they have been Kenyan cops knocked on the door and advised Besigye and his affiliate they have been beneath arrest, Ms Byanyima advised Kenya’s Citizen TV.

The opposition chief tried to clarify he had nothing to do with the gadgets within the room, however the safety brokers didn’t hear.

4 of the lads bundled Besigye and Lutale right into a automotive with Kenyan quantity plates and drove them beneath the duvet of evening in direction of the border with Uganda.

“It was clearly an operation effectively deliberate,” Ms Byanyima added.

Earlier than crossing over to Uganda, the 4 males switched from talking Swahili and began speaking within the Ugandan languages, Luganda and Runyankole.

The 2 held captive have been ferried to Uganda with out their belongings, together with their passports, which have been later picked up by Besigye’s celebration officers from the Nairobi lodge.

PFF spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda advised Uganda’s Monitor newspaper that Besigye and his buddy went via the Malaba border put up with out stopping for routine safety checks.

“They solely modified autos. The four-wheel drive car with the Kenyan quantity plate was left on the Malaba border put up and moved to a different car with [a] Ugandan quantity plate,” he mentioned.

Uganda’s Info Minister Chris Baryomunsi mentioned detectives had gathered sufficient intelligence to arrest Besigye whereas in Nairobi.

He mentioned the Kenyan authorities had enabled the cross-border operation, though officers in Nairobi insist they knew nothing about it.

Besigye is now being tried in Kampala and never Nairobi as a result of the crime that was deliberate was “towards Uganda and never Kenya”, Ugandan military spokesman Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye advised the BBC’s Africa Every day podcast.

“Now we have a authorized framework with our counterparts in Kenya to take care of issues that threaten regional safety,” he added.

Nonetheless, he didn’t clarify why there was no extradition course of.

Experiences point out that Besigye’s arrest had been deliberate for months and was executed with the assistance of some individuals who have been near him.

Organisers of the assembly are mentioned to be a British nationwide and a senior official of the Ugandan military, each of whom have been well-known to Besigye, Ugandan media reported.

His spouse alleged the British nationwide who was within the assembly was a “paid operative who tried to plant weapons” on Besigye.

Over the a long time, a whole lot of civilians have been tried in Uganda’s army courts, though the Constitutional Courtroom has dominated towards the observe.

Besigye, who is not any stranger to showing in army courts, is again there as a result of he subjected himself to army regulation, Brig Kulayigye advised the BBC.

Final week, he and his co-accused have been arraigned on the Makindye army court docket after being held incommunicado for 4 days.

They’re dealing with 4 fees which embrace being discovered with two pistols and ammunition, and in search of to purchase weapons from foreigners within the Swiss metropolis of Geneva, the Greek capital, Athens, and Nairobi.

The 2 denied all fees.

Besigye objected to being tried by a court docket martial, saying that if there have been any fees towards him, he needs to be tried in a civilian court docket.

His legal professionals additionally argued that the alleged offences have been dedicated exterior Uganda and subsequently they have been arraigned within the court docket martial illegally.

However the court docket overruled the legal professionals and allowed the listening to to proceed.

The accused have been remanded at Luzira most jail till 2 December.

Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan lawyer and a human rights activist, advised the BBC that Kenya ought to have arrested Besigye and extradited him to Uganda following the legal guidelines that govern the method.

Ms Byanyima mentioned she didn’t anticipate her husband to get justice.

However Brig Kulayigye mentioned the court docket martial “isn’t a kangaroo court docket”.

“Justice will probably be served.”

Kenyan authorities have swung between denying any data of the operation and remaining silent, whereas Ugandan officers say that a variety of intelligence was shared between the 2 international locations.

“The federal government of Uganda was in contact with the federal government of Kenya. In any other case, how would you arrest anyone in the midst of Nairobi after which deliver him again to Uganda, whether or not via the airport or land, with out the total data and assist of the state there in Kenya?” Info Minister Baryomunsi advised Uganda’s NBS TV.

Many Kenyans are asking concerning the nature of safety ties between the 2 international locations and if there was a full disclosure that Besigye could be charged in a army court docket.

Final Tuesday, Kenya’s appearing International Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi kept away from giving clear solutions to journalists, pleading that his nation shouldn’t be judged “too harshly”.

Mudavadi, who can also be the appearing inside minister, mentioned Kenya was an open nation, which allowed “a variety of latitude”. However he warned foreigners towards inflicting a rift between Kenya and their residence international locations.

He mentioned Besigye’s matter could be resolved diplomatically, describing Uganda as Kenya’s “sturdy accomplice”.

The acknowledgement by Uganda that Kenya was concerned within the abduction has left the Kenyan authorities dealing with a backlash each in Uganda and again residence.

Some Ugandans have held protests exterior the Kenyan embassy in Kampala whereas others have threatened to boycott Kenyan manufacturers.

Besigye’s detention follows a string of high-profile abductions and disappearances in Kenya, together with the compelled deportation of 4 Turkish refugees to Ankara, the place they confronted allegations of conspiring towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Extra reporting by Alan Kasujja