Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has for the first time admitted that his government arrested and detained two Kenyan activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, who went missing in Uganda for five weeks.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the pair being forced into a car by masked, uniformed men after attending a political event in support of Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine last month.
Until their release on Saturday, Ugandan authorities had denied holding them.
Speaking during a live interview on Saturday evening, Museveni described the two men as “experts in riots” who were “put in the fridge for some days.”
He claimed they had been involved in activities linked to unrest, echoing his broader accusation that foreign groups were fueling protests in neighboring Tanzania.
Museveni said the activists were released following appeals from “some Kenyan leaders” who requested their return. Both men arrived back in Nairobi on Saturday, greeted by supporters at the main airport.
“Thirty-eight days of abduction was not easy. We didn’t think we’d make it out alive because we were taken by the military,” Njagi said after landing in Kenya.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi confirmed their release came after “sustained diplomatic engagement” between Nairobi and Kampala.
Activist group Vocal Africa, which campaigned for their freedom, hailed the release as “an important step toward upholding the human rights of East Africans across the region.”
In a joint statement, Vocal Africa, the Law Society of Kenya, and Amnesty International thanked both governments and the citizens who advocated for the activists.
Bobi Wine real name Robert Kyagulanyi who is challenging Museveni in next year’s elections, accused the Ugandan government of targeting the Kenyans because of their association with him.
“If they committed any offence, why were they not produced before court and formally charged?” he asked on X.
Ugandan security agencies have repeatedly faced accusations of abducting opposition figures and their supporters, often in plain clothes. Some detainees have later appeared in court facing various charges.
The incident mirrors a growing pattern of politically motivated disappearances across East Africa.
Njagi himself was abducted in Kenya last year amid a wave of kidnappings targeting government critics, reappearing a month later after a court order forced police to produce him.
Earlier this year, activists Boniface Mwangi of Kenya and Agather Atuhaire of Uganda were detained in Tanzania and held incommunicado before being dumped at their respective borders.
Both later alleged brutal mistreatment, including sexual abuse, claims dismissed by Tanzanian police as “hearsay.”
Last year, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye also vanished in Nairobi, resurfacing four days later before a military court in Uganda on treason charges.
These recurring abductions have raised alarms over increasing cooperation among East African governments to suppress dissent and silence activists across borders.
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