Kizza Besigye: What we know about Ugandan opposition leader’s detention

The mysterious detention of Uganda’s opposition chief Kizza Besigye whereas on a go to to Kenya almost two weeks in the past has sparked widespread condemnation and fears of a clandestine alternate 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 fulfill his abductors, stated to have disguised themselves as Kenyan safety brokers.

Reports 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 in some way being transferred to a army courtroom again house with none extradition proceedings.

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

As his detention is prolonged till subsequent week by a army courtroom in Kampala, we piece collectively what we all know to this point.

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

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

But earlier this 12 months, he fashioned a brand new get together, the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) after breaking away from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which he based 20 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 principal challenger and largest critic.

This time, Besigye travelled to Nairobi to attend the launch of a ebook 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 resort within the prosperous suburb of Hurlingham. He was accompanied by long-term ally Hajj Obeid Lutale.

A couple of hours later, he left the resort, boarded a taxi and headed to Riverside Drive, some 5km (three miles) from his resort, for a non-public assembly, in accordance with his political allies.

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

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

Besigye’s crew in Uganda began relaying misery calls after their chief’s cellphones 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 sort out HIV and Aids, taking to social media to report that her husband had been “kidnapped” in Nairobi.

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

Besigye and his pal Lutale arrived on the condo alongside Riverside Drive the place he was attributable to meet an unidentified Ugandan nationwide and one other unknown British nationwide, in accordance with Ms Byanyima.

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

In the room there was a field of what seemed to be a stash of cash. One of the hosts had two weapons.

Shortly after a short introduction, eight males in plain garments who stated they have been Kenyan law enforcement officials knocked on the door and instructed Besigye and his affiliate they have been underneath arrest, Ms Byanyima instructed 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 pay attention.

Four of the boys bundled Besigye and Lutale right into a automotive with Kenyan quantity plates and drove them underneath the duvet of night time in the direction of the border with Uganda.

“It was clearly an operation well planned,” Ms Byanyima added.

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

The two captive have been ferried to Uganda with out their belongings, together with their passports, which have been later picked up by Besigye’s get together officers from the Nairobi resort.

PFF spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda instructed Uganda’s Monitor newspaper that Besigye and his pal went by the Malaba border publish with out stopping for routine safety checks.

“They only changed vehicles. The four-wheel drive vehicle with the Kenyan number plate was left at the Malaba border post and moved to another vehicle with [a] Ugandan number plate,” he stated.

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

He stated the Kenyan authorities had enabled the cross-border operation, despite the fact that 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 “against Uganda and not Kenya”, Ugandan military spokesman Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye told the BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

“We have a legal framework with our counterparts in Kenya to deal with matters that threaten regional security,” he added.

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

Reports 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 stated 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 guns” on Besigye.

Over the a long time, tons of of civilians have been tried in Uganda’s army courts, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court has dominated towards the follow.

Besigye, who isn’t any stranger to showing in army courts, is again there as a result of he subjected himself to army legislation, Brig Kulayigye instructed the BBC.

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

They are dealing with 4 costs which embody being discovered with two pistols and ammunition, and looking for to purchase weapons from foreigners within the Swiss metropolis of Geneva, the Greek capital, Athens, and Nairobi.

The two denied all costs.

Besigye objected to being tried by a courtroom martial, saying that if there have been any costs towards him, he must be tried in a civilian courtroom.

His attorneys additionally argued that the alleged offences have been dedicated exterior Uganda and due to this fact they have been arraigned within the courtroom martial illegally.

But the courtroom overruled the attorneys and allowed the listening to to proceed.

The accused have been initially remanded to Luzira most jail till 2 December, which has now been prolonged to 10 December.

The courtroom is then anticipated to rule on objections raised by the defence crew, together with whether or not Uganda has jurisdiction to attempt Besigye on crimes he allegedly dedicated on international soil.

The adjournment additionally offers time for Besigye’s new lead lawyer, Kenya’s Martha Karua, to acquire a brief practising licence to take part within the trial.

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

Ms Byanyima stated she didn’t count on her husband to get justice.

But Brig Kulayigye stated the courtroom martial “is not a kangaroo court”.

“Justice will be served.”

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

“The government of Uganda was in touch with the government of Kenya. Otherwise, how would you arrest somebody in the middle of Nairobi and then bring him back to Uganda, whether through the airport or land, without the full knowledge and support of the state there in Kenya?” Information Minister Baryomunsi instructed Uganda’s NBS TV.

Many Kenyans are asking in regards to the nature of safety ties between the 2 nations and if there was a full disclosure that Besigye could be charged in a army courtroom.

Last Tuesday, Kenya’s appearing Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi avoided giving clear solutions to journalists, pleading that his nation shouldn’t be judged “too harshly”.

Mudavadi, who can be the appearing inside minister, stated Kenya was an open nation, which allowed “a lot of latitude”. But he warned foreigners towards inflicting a rift between Kenya and their house nations.

He stated Besigye’s matter could be resolved diplomatically, describing Uganda as Kenya’s “strong partner”.

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 house.

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 forced deportation of four Turkish refugees to Ankara, the place they confronted allegations of conspiring towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Additional reporting by Alan Kasujja