Kenyan activists abducted after joining opposition rally in Uganda

"Heavily armed security operatives detained Bob Njagi, the chair of Free Kenya, and Nicholas Oyoo, the movement's secretary general, at a petrol station near Kampala on Wednesday afternoon. The activists had reportedly travelled from Kenya to Uganda on Monday to support Wine real name Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu at his campaign rallies in the eastern region. In a video of an event on Tuesday, Njagi could be seen on stage beside Wine, who leads Uganda's National Unity Platform party."

"They attended the first rally in eastern Uganda and left the campaign trail and came to Kampala, where two of them were picked up by security operatives; some in police uniform and others in plain clothes and up to now their whereabouts is not known, said Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan lawyer, journalist and critic of the government of President Yoweri Museveni. This is another incident in what is seen as transborder repression that has become commonplace in east Africa."

"It points to two possible scenarios: that the three authoritarian [leaders] in east Africa are working together to crack down on critics, activists and journalists, or that they are very afraid of a united east Africa and that's why they use force on east Africans being seen supporting their fellow east Africans who are victims of their repression or both."

Two Kenyan activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, were detained at a petrol station near Kampala by heavily armed security operatives after attending Bobi Wine campaign rallies. The activists had travelled from Kenya to Uganda to support Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu at rallies in eastern Uganda. Some operatives wore police uniforms while others were in plain clothes, and their whereabouts remain unknown. The incident is part of a pattern of alleged transborder repression in east Africa, with prior detentions and reported abuse of activists and journalists in Tanzania and Kenya. Observers suggest possible regional coordination or fear of a united East Africa.

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