Two Kenyan human rights activists have gone missing in Uganda after what opposition leader Bobi Wine described as a “mafia-style” abduction in Kampala.
Wine said Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were seized by four armed men at a petrol station on Wednesday and driven to an unknown location. He accused Ugandan authorities of targeting the pair for supporting his campaign ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Ugandan police spokesperson Kituma Rusoke told the BBC the men were not in police custody and suggested contacting other security agencies. Army spokesperson Felix Kulayigye declined to comment on allegations involving non-uniformed operatives and challenged Wine to specify which agency was responsible.
A witness, speaking anonymously to Kenya’s Citizen TV, said four armed men and a woman in the front passenger seat forced the activists into a vehicle before speeding off. Both men’s phones have since been unreachable.
Kenyan rights group Vocal Africa condemned the reported abductions and demanded the activists’ immediate release. Videos posted online show Njagi participating in Wine’s campaign events earlier in the week.
Njagi was previously abducted in Kenya last year by masked men during a spate of disappearances of government critics; he resurfaced after a court ordered police to produce him and later described harsh conditions in captivity.
The latest disappearances echo recent cross-border detentions in East Africa. Earlier this year, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist-activist Agather Atuhaire were detained in Tanzania and later dumped at their national borders; both alleged mistreatment, which Tanzanian police dismissed. Last year, Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye vanished in Nairobi and reappeared days later before a Ugandan military court on treason charges.
Rights groups say the cases raise fears of regional collaboration to stifle dissent as election season looms in Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni, 80, has ruled since 1986 and faces a renewed challenge from Wine.