They vanish on the road between rallies, at petrol stations, or after a book launch, seized by armed men in plain clothes, bundled into unmarked vehicles and spirited to detention.
What once felt like isolated incidents have turned into a pattern across East Africa: activists, opposition politicians and journalists abducted by security agents in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and in some cases spirited across borders.
This pattern, human-rights groups warn, is no accident. It is a wave of trans-border repression that blurs national boundaries and exposes a growing willingness by governments and security services in the region to cooperate quietly or overtly to silence critics and dissidents.
All these came into play on Monday when the families of Mr Bob Njagi and Mr Nicholas Oyoo, both Kenyans, condemned their reported abduction in Uganda, which is set to hold presidential elections.
Armed men in plain clothes abducted the two after a car they were driving in broke down. They were heading to meet Uganda’s opposition leader
“All we request is that they are released. If they have committed any wrong then they should deport them here and have them arraigned,” said Mr Tonny Njagi, his brother.
Mr Nobert Ochieng, Mr Oyoo’s brother, condemned the abduction, saying they had not been in touch since they went missing last Wednesday.
“They are being held incommunicado, we have not heard from them. Equally, they have not been arraigned in any court so that we can understand what the charges against them are,” said Mr Ochieng.
He said that the two families had vowed not to keep pushing until the Ugandan government sets them free.
Kenyan national Koffi Atinda, who was with Mr Njagi and Mr Oyoo during the Ugandan tour, luckily escaped the abduction. He had left one of the car doors open as they took lunch when a speeding van stopped and picked the two.
“There was a lady there who kept pointing at me informing the officers that I was with them. I was bundled into the van but moments before it left they asked me to go back and close the car’s door. That is how they left me there,” Atinda explained.
According to Atinda, on arrival in Uganda, they had settled in Jinja for two days before the journey to meet Mr Kyagulanyi in Kampala.
The families of the missing men, through Law Society of Kenya (LSK), have filed a Habeas Corpus application to have the two brought before a judge or into court. Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security, Inspector-General of Police and Attorney-General are listed as respondents.
Vocal Africa's Hussein Khalid (left), advocate Abner Collins Mango (center) and other human rights activists during a press briefing on the alleged abduction of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo in Uganda last week.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
The petition filed by Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates states that the two men were arrested by military operatives and “are currently illegally detained at Mbuya, Kampala, in the military detention facility”.
The High Commission of Kenya in Kampala, which is headed by Dr Joash Maangi, said it has informed Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the disappearance of the two.
“In light to the foregoing, and in order to address the concerns raised by the families of the two Kenyan nationals, the Mission requests the Ministry’s assistance in liaising with the relevant authorities in Kampala to obtain information of the current situation of the two,” the Kenyan mission in Uganda said.
Mr Felix Wambua, the National coordinator of Free Kenya Movement, the organisation that the abductees are attached to, said they will plan protests on Thursday if the two will not have been released.
“The next move is that if, by Thursday, they will not have released them, then we shall call people to protest outside all Ugandan embassies across the globe,” he said.
Leader of Free Kenya Movement Bob Njagi addresses journalists in Kitengela on October 9, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
In a joint press conference in Nairobi on Monday, LSK, Vocal Africa and Amnesty International condemned the abduction of the two. The three organisations believe that the duo might be held alongside other political prisoners at Nalefunya in Jinja or the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala.
“These sites are notorious for unlawful detention, torture and enforced disappearances,” they said in a statement.
The groups said their detention had already broken Uganda’s law that states that an arrested person should not be detained beyond 48 hours.
“Furthermore, enforced disappearance and cross-border abduction are potential crimes against humanity when they form part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians. The current situation in which East African citizens are abducted and detained across borders reflects a dangerous erosion of these fundamental principles,” they said.
On November 16, 2024, Mr Kizza Besigye was seized from Nairobi and taken to a military facility in Kampala. Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire were in May detained in Tanzania. Another Kenyan activist, Mwabili Mwagodi, was abducted in Dar es Salaam in July.
