How a Ugandan opposition leader disappeared in Kenya and ended up in military court

The mysterious detention of Uganda's absorption person Kizza Besigye portion connected a sojourn to Kenya astir 2 weeks agone has sparked wide condemnation and fears of a clandestine speech of quality betwixt the 2 neighbours.

Besigye's allies and woman person travel retired to uncover harrowing details of however the absorption main was seemingly lured to conscionable his abductors, said to person disguised themselves arsenic Kenyan information agents.

Reports accidental helium was spied connected from the clip helium boarded a level astatine Entebbe airdrome successful Uganda for Kenya's capital, Nairobi, wherever helium was picked up, earlier someway being transferred to a subject tribunal backmost location without immoderate extradition proceedings.

While Kenya insists it played nary relation and is investigating the incident, Uganda holds that Kenya was afloat alert of the plan, citing quality correspondence aimed astatine tracking Besigye down.

As helium is owed to instrumentality to subject tribunal successful Kampala, we portion unneurotic what we cognize truthful far.

Besigye has contested and mislaid 4 statesmanlike elections against President Yoweri Museveni, who has been successful powerfulness since 1986.

He has been little progressive successful authorities recently, and did not contention the 2021 election.

But earlier this year, helium formed a caller party, the People's Front for Freedom (PFF) aft breaking distant from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which helium founded 2 decades ago.

The absorption person has for years travelled to Kenya and moved freely, sometimes to be high-profile events - adjacent portion helium remained Museveni's main challenger and biggest critic.

This time, Besigye travelled to Nairobi to be the motorboat of a publication by Kenyan absorption person Martha Karua.

The 68-year-old landed successful the metropolis connected the greeting of 16 November and took a taxi to his edifice successful the affluent suburb of Hurlingham. He was accompanied by semipermanent state Hajj Obeid Lutale.

A fewer hours later, helium near the hotel, boarded a taxi and headed to Riverside Drive, immoderate 5km (three miles) from his hotel, for a backstage meeting, according to his governmental allies.

This was the past clip helium was seen until helium re-emerged successful Uganda 4 days later.

His taxi operator said helium waited for the seasoned person for much than 12 hours, earlier deciding to permission erstwhile helium was incapable to telephone him.

Besigye’s squad successful Uganda started relaying distress calls aft their leader's mobile phones went unanswered.

His disappearance deed the headlines and raised eyebrows successful the region, with his woman Winnie Byanyima, the caput of the UN's organisation to tackle HIV and Aids, taking to societal media to study that her hubby had been "kidnapped" successful Nairobi.

The adjacent day, his reserved spot astatine the publication launch, wherever helium was expected to beryllium the impermanent speaker, remained bare with organisers raising the alarm astir his absence.

Besigye and his person Lutale arrived astatine the flat on Riverside Drive wherever helium was owed to conscionable an unidentified Ugandan nationalist and different chartless British national, according to Ms Byanyima.

The British nationalist supposedly wanted to present Besigye to a radical of colleagues and businessmen, who had expressed an involvement successful financially backing the PFF, she said.

In the country determination was a container of what appeared to beryllium a stash of money. One of the hosts had 2 guns.

Shortly aft a little introduction, 8 men successful plain apparel who said they were Kenyan constabulary officers knocked connected the doorway and told Besigye and his subordinate they were nether arrest, Ms Byanyima told Kenya’s Citizen TV.

The absorption main tried to explicate helium had thing to bash with the items successful the room, but the information agents did not listen.

Four of the men bundled Besigye and Lutale into a car with Kenyan fig plates and drove them nether the screen of nighttime towards the borderline with Uganda.

"It was intelligibly an cognition good planned," Ms Byanyima added.

Before crossing implicit to Uganda, the 4 men switched from speaking Swahili and started talking successful the Ugandan languages, Luganda and Runyankole.

The 2 held captive were ferried to Uganda without their belongings, including their passports, which were aboriginal picked up by Besigye's enactment officials from the Nairobi hotel.

PFF spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda told Uganda's Monitor paper that Besigye and his person went done the Malaba borderline station without stopping for regular information checks.

"They lone changed vehicles. The four-wheel thrust conveyance with the Kenyan fig sheet was near astatine the Malaba borderline station and moved to different conveyance with [a] Ugandan fig plate," helium said.

Uganda's Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said detectives had gathered capable quality to apprehension Besigye portion successful Nairobi.

He said the Kenyan authorities had enabled the cross-border operation, adjacent though officials successful Nairobi importune they knew thing astir it.

Besigye is present being tried successful Kampala and not Nairobi due to the fact that the transgression that was planned was "against Uganda and not Kenya", Ugandan service spokesperson Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye told the BBC's Africa Daily podcast.

"We person a ineligible model with our counterparts successful Kenya to woody with matters that endanger determination security," helium added.

However, helium did not explicate wherefore determination was nary extradition process.

Reports bespeak that Besigye's apprehension had been planned for months and was executed with the assistance of immoderate radical who were adjacent to him.

Organisers of the gathering are said to beryllium a British nationalist and a elder authoritative of the Ugandan army, some of whom were good known to Besigye, Ugandan media reported.

His woman alleged the British nationalist who was successful the gathering was a "paid operative who tried to works guns" connected Besigye.

Over the decades, hundreds of civilians person been tried successful Uganda's subject courts, adjacent though the Constitutional Court has ruled against the practice.

Besigye, who is nary alien to appearing successful subject courts, is backmost determination due to the fact that helium subjected himself to subject law, Brig Kulayigye told the BBC.

Last week, helium and his co-accused were arraigned astatine the Makindye subject tribunal aft being held incommunicado for 4 days.

They are facing 4 charges which see being recovered with 2 pistols and ammunition, and seeking to bargain weapons from foreigners successful the Swiss metropolis of Geneva, the Greek capital, Athens, and Nairobi.

The 2 denied each charges.

Besigye objected to being tried by a tribunal martial, saying that if determination were immoderate charges against him, helium should beryllium tried successful a civilian court.

His lawyers besides argued that the alleged offences were committed extracurricular Uganda and truthful they were arraigned successful the tribunal martial illegally.

But the tribunal overruled the lawyers and allowed the proceeding to continue.

The accused were remanded astatine Luzira maximum situation until 2 December.

Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan lawyer and a quality rights activist, told the BBC that Kenya should person arrested Besigye and extradited him to Uganda pursuing the laws that govern the process.

Ms Byanyima said she did not expect her hubby to get justice.

But Brig Kulayigye said the tribunal martial "is not a kangaroo court".

"Justice volition beryllium served."

Kenyan authorities person swung betwixt denying immoderate cognition of the cognition and remaining silent, portion Ugandan officials accidental that a batch of quality was shared betwixt the 2 countries.

"The authorities of Uganda was successful interaction with the authorities of Kenya. Otherwise, however would you apprehension idiosyncratic successful the mediate of Nairobi and past bring him backmost to Uganda, whether done the airdrome oregon land, without the afloat cognition and enactment of the authorities determination successful Kenya?" Information Minister Baryomunsi told Uganda’s NBS TV.

Many Kenyans are asking astir the quality of information ties betwixt the 2 countries and if determination was a afloat disclosure that Besigye would beryllium charged successful a subject court.

Last Tuesday, Kenya's acting Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi refrained from giving wide answers to journalists, pleading that his state should not beryllium judged "too harshly".

Mudavadi, who is besides the acting interior minister, said Kenya was an unfastened country, which allowed "a batch of latitude". But helium warned foreigners against causing a rift betwixt Kenya and their location countries.

He said Besigye's substance would beryllium resolved diplomatically, describing Uganda arsenic Kenya's "strong partner".

The acknowledgement by Uganda that Kenya was progressive successful the abduction has near the Kenyan authorities facing a backlash some successful Uganda and backmost home.

Some Ugandans person held protests extracurricular the Kenyan embassy successful Kampala portion others person threatened to boycott Kenyan brands.

Besigye’s detention follows a drawstring of high-profile abductions and disappearances successful Kenya, including the forced deportation of 4 Turkish refugees to Ankara, wherever they faced allegations of conspiring against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Additional reporting by Alan Kasujja