The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has admitted that his government abducted two Kenyan activists and "put them in the fridge" just a day after Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were released from custody.
Speaking during an interview with UBC TV, President Museveni admitted that the two had been held in custody, even after over 30 days of the Ugandan government denying the claims.
Praising the country's intelligence, he claimed that the two had positioned themselves as experts in riots and had been working with Uganda's opposition leader, Robert Kyagulani, alias Bobi Wine.
"Here in Uganda, we have our own groups, which we monitor; we have very good intelligence," he admitted. "For instance, we arrested two Kenyans; I do not remember their names. They were working with Kyagulanyi’s group; they are experts in riots."
"Of course, with our very good intelligence, we picked them up and they have been in the fridge for some days. Now, some Kenyan leaders rang me and said I should either put them in jail here or hand them back."
The admission comes just hours after Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were released from Ugandan custody after public uproar.
Njagi and Oyoo were released on the night of Friday, October 7, and handed over to Kenyan authorities at the Busia border crossing, 38 days after abduction.
Confirming the incident, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei stated that the two had first been handed over to the Kenyan High Commissioner in Uganda.
Their release came even after both the Ugandan police and military denied holding the two Kenyans, despite witness claims that they had been taken by armed security officers at a petrol station near Kampala.
Speaking at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Saturday afternoon after arriving from Kisumu, the activists revealed that they had endured torture and starvation while in detention at the Kasenyi Military Barracks in Entebbe.
Amnesty International disclosed that the activists’ release followed high-level negotiations, which included intervention by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Jubilee's Deputy Secretary General Pauline Njoroge would later reveal the former president had directly called Museveni’s son and Chief of Defence Forces of the Ugandan Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to secure their release.
