Uganda confirms Kenya's role in Kizza Besigye's abduction from Nairobi
By Barack Oduor |
Ugandan Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said the government of Uganda was coordinating with its Kenyan counterpart in the arrest of Kizza Besigye.
Kampala on Friday threw Nairobi under the bus in the controversial saga surrounding the abduction of veteran Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye in Nairobi and his subsequent transfer to Kampala to face charges.
Ugandan Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi confirmed on live television that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s government coordinated with Kenya in the abduction of the opposition leader from Nairobi.
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In an interview on Uganda's NBS TV on Friday, Baryomunsi said the government of Uganda was coordinating with its Kenyan counterpart in the arrest of Kizza Besigye.
The minister went further to question how the arrest could have occurred without Kenya's full knowledge and support.
"How would you arrest somebody in the middle of Nairobi and then bring him back to Uganda without the full knowledge and support of the government in Kenya?"
This fresh revelation now puts Nairobi in a tight diplomatic spot, after Kenya vehemently denied participation in Besigye's abduction which has been condemned widely.
Kenya's Foreign Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei denied Kenya’s involvement after news of Besigye's abduction from Nairobi emerged.
"There is no reason whatsoever for Kenya to be a party to his arrest, if any," he said.
He also defended Kenya's human rights record.
“Our human rights record is enviable in the region."
Besigye has run against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in four elections and lost each time, although he has always rejected the results.
On Wednesday, Besigye's wife, Winnie Byanyima, claimed her husband had been kidnapped in Nairobi on Saturday at an apartment complex on Riverside Drive.
According to his family, Besigye was abducted in Nairobi and taken to Uganda and detained in a military prison.
"I request the government of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately. He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon Martha Karua's book launch. I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala. We, his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?" Byanyima posted on her X handle.
Following Besigye's arrest, his party, through Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President Patrick Oboi Amuriat, said they would organise protests at the Kenyan High Commission in Kampala on Monday to express their displeasure with Kenya's hand in the matter.
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