Pressure is piling on Ugandan authorities to account for two Kenyan activists who disappeared in Kampala on October 1.
The disappearance has attracted demonstrations, official protest notes, a diplomatic meeting and a legal suit, but the whereabouts of Bob Njangi and Nicholas Oyoo remain unknown.
On one hand, the Kenyan government is escalating diplomatic engagement, while on the other, civil society groups on Thursday staged protests demanding the release of Njangi and Oyoo.
The demonstrations, called by Kongamano La Mapinduzi, 6.25 Movement, Mosquito Liberation Movement, NUP Kenya Chapter, Vocal Africa and Free Movement Kenya, among others, were held outside the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi.
The Kenyan government has, through diplomatic channels, twice sought answers on the whereabouts of the duo from its counterparts in Kampala. The interventions are yet to bear fruit.
Kenya High Commissioner to Uganda Amb Joash Maangi on Wednesday met Uganda Foreign Affairs PS Vincent Waiswa to discuss the alleged abduction.
"The PS assured that the government is working swiftly to resolve the matter," Amb Maangi said in a social media post.
The meeting followed a diplomatic protest letter on October 3, in which the Kenya High Commission in Kampala informed Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Njangi and Oyoo were abducted by armed men around the Kireka area of Kampala, with their whereabouts remaining unknown.
"The Mission requests the Ministry's assistance in liaising with the relevant authorities in Kampala to obtain information regarding the current situation of the missing Kenyans in order for the Mission to take appropriate action in securing their release and safe return to Kenya," the note verbale reads.
It adds that the Kenyan government had received the information through a letter from Vocal Africa—a civic organisation based in Nairobi—and that families of the two Kenyans had raised the alarm over their disappearance.
In reaction to the protest note, Vocal Africa said it will continue to follow up both in Kenya and Uganda until the whereabouts of the two activists is confirmed.
A number of lobby groups have also issued statements condemning the abduction and called for the release of the two.
The Law Society of Kenya, Vocal Africa and Amnesty International Kenya in a joint statement on Tuesday expressed deep concern that, despite public outrage and ongoing diplomatic engagement, the two remain held incommunicado, "a blatant violation of Ugandan and international human rights law".
"Eyewitness accounts indicate that Bob Njangi and Nicholas Oyoo were abducted in Kampala by masked, uniformed and armed men, suggesting strong evidence of state involvement in their disappearance. We suspect that they may be detained alongside other Ugandan political detainees in military facilities such as Nalufenya in Jinja or the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala," they said.
They welcomed Kenya's Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs' ongoing efforts and urged it to intensify diplomatic engagement with Ugandan counterparts to ensure their immediate disclosure, release and safe return.
The relatives, accompanied by Vocal Africa CEO Hussein Khalid addressed the press at Amnesty Eastern Africa offices in Nairobi and demanded that the Ugandan government release their sons unconditionally.
"We need more pressure for our comrades Bob Njangi and Nicholas Oyoo to be released," Khalid said.
The Independent Medico-Legal Unit has also weighed in, terming their continued disappearance a grave affront to justice, dignity and regional unity.
"East Africa's progress depends on protecting those who stand for truth and accountability, not silencing them," Imlu said.
In Uganda, two advocates moved to the High Court of Uganda on Tuesday seeking habeas corpus orders (an order to bring a detained person before a judge to determine if their detention is lawful) for the release of the two activists.
The matter will be heard on October 14. Ugandan laws provide that a person ought to be presented before a court of law within 48 hours of arrest. Njangi and Oyoo are yet to be charged more than a week later.
However, the Ugandan Police on Monday denied the duo was in their custody.
Spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said he had not been briefed that the activists were in their custody.
A group of human rights organisations in Mombasa on Monday also held protests over the detention of their colleagues, calling on the Kenyan government to intervene in the matter.
Defenders Coalition, which champions the safety, security and well-being of human rights defenders, has also condemned the abduction.
The lobby group noted that the incident is part of a pattern where HRDs have been targeted, deported, illegally detained, disappeared and/or tortured in East Africa.
Kenya's Boniface Mwangi and Uganda's Agather Atuhaire were in May arrested and disappeared in Dar es Salaam, while prominent Tanzanian journalist and human rights activist Maria Sarungi was in January abducted for about four hours in Nairobi.
In November 2024, Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye disappeared from his apartment in Nairobi and reappeared in a military court in Kampala.
