Two Kenyan human rights activists have gone lacking in Uganda after reportedly being kidnapped by armed males whereas attending opposition chief Bobi Wine’s marketing campaign occasion.
Bobi Wine strongly condemned the “abduction” of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, saying the pair had been “picked up mafia-style” at a petroleum station and pushed off to an unknown vacation spot.
Kenyan police spokesman Michael Muchiri instructed the BBC he was not conscious of the matter. The Ugandan police has been approached for remark.
Bobi Wine, a pop star whose actual identify is Robert Kyagulanyi, is working for the presidency in subsequent yr’s elections, difficult President Yoweri Museveni, 80, who has held energy since 1986.
Bobi Wine stated the 2 Kenyans had been being focused by the Ugandan authorities for associating with him.
“We condemn the persevering with lawlessness by the rogue regime and demand that these brothers are launched unconditionally! The felony regime apparently kidnapped them merely for associating with me and expressing solidarity with our trigger!” he posted on X.
Kenyan rights group Vocal Africa has additionally condemned the reported abductions and demanded their unconditional launch.
A fellow activist who witnessed what occurred on Wednesday afternoon stated that 4 armed males compelled the pair right into a car and sped off.
“There have been 4 of them. There was additionally a woman who was seated in entrance; they took Bob and Oyoo Ochieng, who’s the secretary basic of the Free Kenya Motion,” the witness, who needed to stay nameless for safety causes, instructed Kenya’s Citizen TV.
He stated each had been unreachable on telephone and their whereabouts had been unknown.
Movies shared on-line present Njagi actively taking part in Bobi Wine’s marketing campaign, and seems on stage beside the opposition chief.
The activists had reportedly travelled to Uganda on Monday with some Ugandans earlier than linking up with the marketing campaign.
Njagi was additionally picked up in Kenya final yr by masked males throughout a wave of abductions believed to have been concentrating on authorities critics within the nation.
He remained lacking for over a month earlier than resurfacing, after a court docket ordered police to supply him. He later recounted the harrowing situations in captivity – remoted and denied meals for many of the days.
Their newest disappearances mirror previous incidents involving politicians and activists throughout the East African area.
Earlier this yr, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and his Ugandan counterpart Agather Atuhaire had been detained in Tanzania and held incommunicado for days earlier than being deserted at their respective nationwide borders.
They later recounted being brutally mistreated, together with sexual torture by the hands of the Tanzanian authorities – allegations which police dismissed as “rumour”.
Final yr, one other Uganda opposition determine, Kizza Besigye, mysteriously disappeared in Nairobi solely to floor 4 days later in a army court docket in Uganda, the place he faces treason expenses.
The circumstances have since sparked widespread condemnation and considerations that East African governments might be collaborating to comprise dissent.