Dr Kizza Besigye, Ugandan opposition politician and rival of President Yoweri Museveni, disappeared during his visit to Nairobi for Martha Karua's book launch.
Details have emerged on the last moments of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye in Nairobi before he was abducted and ferried across the border.
According to his family, Dr Besigye landed in the Kenyan capital on Saturday, November 16, and took a taxi from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to his hotel. He had been booked at Waridi Paradise Hotel and Suites on Rose Avenue in Hurlingham, some six kilometres from the Central Business District.
A few hours later, he left the hotel, boarded a taxi and headed to an address, identified as 108 in Riverside Drive, where he was to meet someone at apartment number C1102.
This was the last time he was seen again on Kenyan soil.
His taxi driver said that he waited for the politician at the apartment's basement for more than twelve hours beginning Saturday at 4pm until 4.30am the following morning, when he decided to leave after his several of his texts to Besigye went unanswered.
Meeting with unknown Ugandan official
On Tuesday evening, the Nation received information from a source aware of Dr Besigye’s disappearance. The source revealed that the opposition chief had informed his team that he was meeting a Ugandan national at the apartment in Riverside Drive, some five kilometres from his hotel.
It is believed that the would-be host, whose identity could not be immediately confirmed, holds a senior rank in Ugandan military, the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces.
The apartment in question has three blocks — A, B and C. Dr Besigye went to a house on the eleventh floor of Block C after alighting a taxi and walked into the house.
A fact-finding mission by the Nation established that each floor has three houses and that Dr Besigye was taken to house number two.
On our visit, the floor was eerily dark, with no signs of human life. The door of the house that Dr Besigye reportedly went to remained tightly shut despite the Nation team knocking and camping there for a while.
The guards at the main entrance to the apartments said they were not aware that the Ugandan politician had visited their address on Sunday and declined to share the CCTV footage from the day in question.
The Forum for Democratic Change party leader was expected to grace the book launch by Kenyan opposition leader Martha Karua on the day he went missing.
“We knew he was coming but when he did not show up, we called him to find out where he was. No one picked up his phone call,” an aide to Ms Karua told the Nation.
“At first, our calls went through but the line went dead and it has remained so to date.”
She also revealed that they received distress calls from Mr Besigye’s team in Uganda who kept asking about their leader’s whereabouts.
Ms Karua, Narc-Kenya party leader and the Convener of Pan-African Opposition Leaders Solidarity Network, where Dr Besigye is a member, on Wednesday said the Ugandan politician was to deliver a speech at the launch of her book — Against the Tide.
As fate would have it, Dr Besigye did not show up as anticipated with his empty seat at the book launch sending an unnerving feeling on Ms Karua and her protocol team who had prepared to welcome him to the event.
On Wednesday, the Pan-African Opposition Leaders Solidarity Network condemned Dr Besiggye’s kidnapping and detention at a military prison in Kampala, as it demanded his immediate release and answers on his safety.
Ms Karua hit out at both the Kenyan and Ugandan governments for collaborating in the abduction, saying they violated national, regional and international laws.
"This occurrence is deeply disturbing and of grave concern. We suspect that Dr Besigye may have been abducted after he was dropped at the Riverside apartments, most likely by Uganda authorities working in cahoots with and facilitation from Kenyan authorities," she said.
In a post on X, Dr Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima asked the Ugandan government to release her husband.
Kenya denies knowledge of abduction
However, even though he was last seen in the city, the Kenyan government has denied that Dr Besigye was abducted in Nairobi.
Speaking to the Nation on the phone, National Police Spokesperson Resila Atieno Onyango said they were unaware of the allegations.
“I have spoken to Nairobi Regional Commander Adamson Bungei and he says that nothing has been reported of an abduction,” she said.
Dr Besigye’s kidnap on Kenyan soil comes barely three months after 36 Ugandan activists associated with him were arrested in Kisumu and ferried across the border. The political activists were later charged with treason and remanded to Kitalya Prison.
The activists, who were recently released on bail, pleaded not guilty to the charges and said they were attending a workshop when they were arrested.
The 36 activists claim to have been tortured during their detention.
Besigye, 68, led the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) political party, contesting and losing four presidential elections against incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
