Abductions: Uganda, Kenya draw backlash for rights abuses

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s public admission that his security forces abducted and tortured two Kenyan citizens has exposed a blatant violation of human rights and international law.

Legal experts and human rights defenders say the confession exposed Uganda to potential international legal liability while also testing Kenya’s commitment to protecting the rights of its citizens abroad.

Speaking in a show televised on Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) on November 8, 2025, President Museveni admitted that Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were in the custody of the military on claims that they were part of presidential aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine’s team.

According to Thuku Mburu, a lawyer and programme officer at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya), Museveni’s admission violates multiple legal provisions, including Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and security of the person and prohibits arbitrary arrest, and Articles 9 and 12, which affirm freedom of expression and movement respectively.

“The African Charter also provides for the right to fair trial and due process. Which was not guaranteed to the two when they were being arrested. So if you are arrested in a foreign country, you’re still entitled to due process,” he stated. “You’re supposed to be booked into the occurrence book in a police station, draft a statement and then you’re presented in court within the earliest time possible.”

The lawyer stated that a habeas corpus was even written to the court to compel the Ugandan government to produce the two activists, dead or alive, but the government denied having had them in their custody.

“The court went ahead and declared these people as lost and ordered the police to institute investigations on how they can be found. Only later for the head of state to come later saying they were holding them,” he argued.

Mburu added that even if the two were held on basis of holding protests as claimed, international law particularly the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to protest.

“The right to protest, the right to petition and the right to demand for certainty are guaranteed. So when these rights are violated, and there is no accountability to those that are violating them, then we are propagating human rights denial, violations and infringement of the same,” Mburu added.

He pointed out that the case mirrors a disturbing trend in the East Africa region, where governments have become increasingly tolerant of unlawful detentions, deportations, and surveillance against perceived critics or activists.

“We are now seeing a pattern of cross-border authoritarianism in the region. Governments are collaborating to suppress dissent and restrict citizens’ freedom of movement, in total disregard of their obligations under regional and international law,” said Mburu.

“We saw Ugandans arrested in Kisumu and deported without due process, and Kenyans detained in Tanzania. These are not coincidences; they represent a systematic rollback of freedoms,” he added.

He added that Njagi and Oyoo have legal recourse through the East African Court of Justice, where they can seek damages for unlawful detention and torture and that Kenya has a duty to demand accountability through diplomatic channels.

“The Kenyan government should formally demand an explanation from Uganda on why its citizens were abducted, held without trial, and tortured. Failure to act signals complicity or deliberate neglect, Mburu said.

Evans Ogada, human rights lawyer and international law expert, stated that Museveni’s confession effectively ties Uganda to the responsibility of a wrongful international act.

He reiterated that the two Kenyans were held illegally which is a violation of rights.

“These people were not arrested formally. They were kidnapped and were held incommunicado without being produced before a court of law. These are profound illegalities under international law,” Ogada said.

“Under customary international law, when a head of state admits that agents of the State abducted and detained foreign nationals, it directly attributes those actions to the State,” he added.

By admitting that Ugandan security agents held the two activists, said, Uganda has effectively accepted a wrongful international act, opening the door to claims for reparations or sanctions under international law.