Ugandan Opposition Leader Kizza Besigye Abducted in Nairobi, Confirms Wife

Ugandan opposition leader and human rights activist Kizza Besigye was reportedly abducted in Nairobi on Saturday, November 16.

The incident was confirmed by his wife, Winnie Byanyima, who revealed that Besigye went missing while in Nairobi to attend the launch of Against The Tide, a memoir by Kenyan politician Martha Karua.

Byanyima expressed her concern through a post on X (formerly Twitter), calling on the Ugandan government to release her husband immediately.

“I request the government of Uganda to release my husband, Kizza Besigye, from where he is being held,” she wrote. “He was kidnapped last Saturday while in Nairobi for Hon. Martha Karua’s book launch. I have now received reliable information that he is being detained in a military jail in Kampala. We, his family and his lawyers, demand access to him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?”

Martha Karua, chair of KANU, also weighed in, urging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Kenyan President William Ruto to clarify Besigye’s safety and whereabouts.

According to Uganda’s Daily Monitor, Besigye was last seen at an apartment on Riverside Drive in Nairobi’s Westlands estate, where he had attended a meeting with unidentified individuals.