Kizza Besigye, a Ugandan opposition figure, was “kidnapped” in Kenya and is being held in a military prison in Kampala, according to his wife, a senior UN official.

Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAIDS, demanded on Tuesday on X that the Ugandan government “immediately release my husband, Dr Kizza Besigye, from where he is being held.”

Ugandan authorities have waged a crackdown on the opposition in recent months, arresting prominent leaders and putting members of opposition parties on trial.

Besigye, a doctor, “was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi” to attend the launch of a book by Kenyan opposition figure Martha Karua, Byanyima said.

His statement comes after Ugandan media reported the disappearance of Besigye, a longtime critic of President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist since 1986.

Besigye, once an ally of Museveni and who has unsuccessfully tried several times since 2001 to unseat him in presidential elections, has often been targeted by authorities.

“I am now reliably informed that he is in a military prison in Kampala,” Byanyima said of her 68-year-old husband.

“We, his family and his lawyers, demand to see him.”

She said Besigye was “not a soldier”, demanding: “Why is he being held in a military prison?”

In July this year, 36 members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) – the party founded by Besigye two decades ago – were expelled from neighboring Kenya and tried in Uganda on terrorism charges.

They were released on bail last month.

After their arrest, Besigye denounced the ruling “junta” and claimed that the 36 “had been illegally detained and returned from Kenya”.

– Formerly allies –

Museveni and Besigye were once close. They fought together in the bush war to overthrow Milton Obote, during which time Besigye was Museveni’s trusted personal doctor.

The two men eventually became political enemies when Besigye broke ranks with the ruling National Resistance Movement to run for president in 2001, then formed the FDC with other disaffected NRM members.

Besigye married Byanyima, who was previously romantically involved with Museveni, in 1999.

In the past, Besigye has faced accusations of treason and rape, frequent arrests and detentions, regular tear gas — he and his supporters — beatings and harassment.

Concerns have recently increased over Kenya’s involvement in such reported kidnappings.

Last month, Nairobi repatriated four Turkish refugees who rights groups said had been kidnapped and forcibly returned in violation of international law.

This followed media reports that they had been kidnapped from the street in the Kenyan capital along with three others who were later released.

Turkish agents also kidnapped Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya in 1999, after years on the run.

nl-txw/fox