Besigye's wife, Winnie Byanyima, revealed on Tuesday night that she had learned her husband was being held at a military jail in Kampala, Uganda.
Byanyima, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), condemned the alleged detention and called for her husband's immediate release.
'I request the government of Uganda to release my husband, Dr. Kizza Besigye, from where he is being held immediately. He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon. Martha Karua's book launch. I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala,' Byanyima said in a post on X. She added, 'We, his family and his lawyers, demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?'
The motive behind Besigye's alleged abduction and detention remains unclear.
While in Nairobi, the four-time presidential contender had been booked to stay at the Wardi Paradise Hotel and Suites in Hurlingham, a neighbourhood about a 15-minute drive from the Riverside Drive apartment in Westlands.
An official at the hotel told Uganda's Daily Monitor that Besigye had not returned to the hotel since leaving on Saturday to attend Karua's book launch.
Ugandan Minister for ICT and National Guidance, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, speaking to the Daily Monitor, could neither confirm nor deny Besigye's detention.
"I'm currently in Soroti as part of President Museveni's entourage. I'm not aware that he is being held by the government. I'm still cross-checking with our security agencies. In any case, why would he be arrested? The government is not in the habit of arresting citizens and keeping them incommunicado forever. If he's arrested, then he will be arraigned in court and charged accordingly. However, we are also cross-checking with our security agencies and colleagues in Kenya because we were told he had travelled there for a book launch before he disappeared," Dr. Baryomunsi said.
It is believed that Besigye was trailed and abducted before being driven to Uganda, almost 500 kilometres away.
The Spokesperson for the National Police Service in Kenya, Dr. Resila Atieno Onyango, has, however, denied claims that the Ugandan politician was abducted in Nairobi.
Some media reports in Kampala say that Dr Besigye was found in a hotel negotiating for arms with a foreign country. According to Soft Power news, an impeccable security source is said to have intimated that he was found undermining national security with foreigners and will be arraigned before the General Court Martial today.
Kizza Besigye was once an ally of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni during the Ugandan Bush War (1981â€"1986) and the following few years.
Before their fallout, Besigye served as Museveni's personal physician during the war and later held various positions in Museveni's government, including Minister of State for Internal Affairs and National Political Commissar. However, their alliance began to fracture in the late 1990s over political disagreements, particularly concerning governance and democracy in Uganda.
Besigye officially broke ties with Museveni in 1999, becoming a leading opposition figure. As the leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) political party, the 68-year-old unsuccessfully contested for the presidency against Museveni in 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016.
He has been arrested numerous times for leading anti-government protests in Uganda and charged with inciting violence.
This latest incident comes months after 36 Ugandan activists associated with Besigye were arrested in Kisumu, Kenya, in July and taken back to Uganda. They were subsequently charged with treason and remanded to Kitalya prison. They have since been released on bail after pleading not guilty to the charges.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
