Abductions of Political Dissidents in Kenya Taints her Diplomatic Image

On 16th November 2024, Dr. Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s long-standing opposition leader was abducted in broad daylight from Nairobi, Kenya. Besigye had flown into the country to attend a book launch event while attending other meetings in the Kenyan capital.

After days of speculation on his whereabouts, Besigye appeared in a Ugandan military court in Kampala, Uganda four days where he stood trial for the illegal possession of firearms and undermining the security of Uganda and its military. Many have termed his trial at a military court as unlawful and an attempt by the powers that be in Uganda to flex their muscle.

However, his abduction and illegitimate extradition to Uganda has proven to be of bigger concern. There has been talk of collusion between the Kenyan and Ugandan authorities that oversaw the eventual capture of Besigye in Nairobi.

The Paradox of Safety

Kenya has long been a haven country in a region engulfed by armed conflict. Its position as an accessible, relatively stable country with a progressive economy is a welcoming prospect for refugees, political dissidents, and asylum seekers.

As it stands, Kenya is home to over 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

However, more refugees and asylum seekers have been voicing concern over their safety and well-being while living in Kenya. Many are political dissidents from their countries of origin, living in exile while in Kenya to flee political persecution.

According to the BBC, 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers are living under the protection of the Refugees Consortium of Kenya, an NGO concerned with protecting the rights and well-being of refugees living in the country.

Besigye’s abduction was the latest, and perhaps most high-profile, in a slew of kidnappings and forced disappearances of international political dissidents living or visiting Kenya.

Back in July, 36 Ugandan citizens affiliated with Uganda’s opposition party were apprehended while on a training camp in Kisumu, Kenya. They were later repatriated back to Uganda to face supposed charges of terrorism.

In fact, Besigye is not the first Ugandan opposition politician to have his freedom betrayed while in Kenya. Back in August 1993, Amon Bazira, an outspoken critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, was murdered while in exile in Kenya. His body was dumped along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. Bazira, the leader of an opposition movement in Uganda, is rumoured to have been murdered by Ugandan agents in full knowledge and plausible collaboration with their Kenyan counterparts.

A few weeks before Besigye’s abduction, 4 Turkish citizens were abducted at gunpoint in Nairobi by masked individuals. The four are said to be part of the Gulen movement, which is opposed to the rule of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and was responsible for the 2016 attempted coup in the country.

Soon after their clandestine detainment, the four were repatriated back to Turkey where they were charged with terrorism and treason.

In May 2021, Selahaddin Gulen, the nephew of Fethullah Gulen (the founder and leader of the Gulen Movement), disappeared under mysterious circumstances while in Nairobi, Kenya. The Kenyan High Court had put a halt to his extradition process to Turkey which sought to bring an end to his asylum status in Kenyan exile. Gulen later appeared in handcuffs while in Turkey, where he faced counts of terrorism and treason.

The Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) has a long history of operation in Kenya, dating back to the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Nairobi in February 1999. (Ocalan’s capture was coordinated with the help of Israeli Mossad agents though). Reporting shows that investigations and spying on the four Turkish individuals by MIT who were recently repatriated back to Turkey have been ongoing from as far back as 2014, and were done in close coordination with the Turkish Embassy in Nairobi.

Many more individuals from a whole host of other countries have been apprehended in similar circumstances in Kenya. They include;

• Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri: Two South Sudanese individuals who were forcibly kidnapped from Nairobi on January 24th and 25th, 2017. The two were later transported to Juba on January 27th where they are believed to be executed on January 30th.
• Morris Mabior Awikjok: A South Sudanese refugee and critic of the South Sudanese government was taken into forceful custody by Kenyan authorities who claimed to be part of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) in February 2023. He was later repatriated to Juba to face charges of defamation and false information.
• Yusuf Ahmed Gasara: The Rwandese lawyer and human rights defender who was abducted from his home in Nairobi in May 2023. He has not been seen or heard from since.
• Arshad Shariff: The Pakistani journalist who was shot dead by Kenyan police authorities in October 2022, shortly after fleeing from Pakistan. The Kenyan authorities later retaliated that the incident was a case of mistaken identity.
• Samson Teklemichael: The Ethiopian businessman abducted in broad daylight in Nairobi on 19th November 2021. His whereabouts remain unknown to date.
• Nnamdi Kanu: The Nigerian politician and separatist leader. The location of his abduction and arrest in June 2021 remains mysterious, said to be in Ethiopia, Kenya or in transit between the Netherlands and Ukraine.

No Longer Paradise

Kenya has been losing out on its image as a free land for the oppressed fleeing persecution from neighbouring countries in the region. For decades, the country was viewed as a standout democratic republic, hailed for its respect of human rights, its constitution and due legal process.

Consequently, this garnered the country a positive standing with the international community and civil societies.

The history of the abduction of political refugees and asylum seekers has been checkered, nonetheless. However, these abduction cases were a deviation from character rather than the norm.

However, it appears that in recent days, the Kenyan government has been brazen in allowing and supporting the abduction efforts of political dissidents living within and repatriating them to their countries of origin.

Why Abductions of Political Dissidents have been on the rise

The complex nature of bilateral relations between Kenya and the countries involved.

In responding to the abduction of the four Turkish citizens from Nairobi, the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Dr. Korir Sing’oei pointed out that the Kenyan government often finds itself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to such situations.

It is expected to balance between diplomatic and humanitarian interests; ensuring that refugees and asylum seekers receive the freedom accorded to them under the Refugees Act 10, of 2021 while maintaining positive relations with the government of the country in question.

The Refugees Act is anchored upon the pre-established principle of non-refoulment; an essential humanitarian protection that prohibits countries from removing persons from their territory of jurisdiction when they have a probable reason that they may be mistreated, tortured or subjected to gross humanitarian violation.

Under this notion, the Kenyan government shouldn’t present persons of interest to their respective countries when it believes that their lives and well-being may be at risk.

However, Kenya has strong bilateral relations and agreements with most of the countries involved. Uganda is Kenya’s neighbour to the west and is Kenya’s biggest trading partner. Turkey is one of Kenya’s closest allies in Asia, and the two even signed a military agreement in July 2023.

Therefore, Kenya risks jeopardizing relations with these countries, should it fail to heed the requests for the capture of persons of interest on behalf of the countries involved.

A regime open to extrajudicial arrests and forced disappearances

The number of abductions, kidnappings and forced disappearances of political dissidents, refugees and asylum seekers has been on the rise in recent days (stemming from President Uhuru’s second term). However, this comes in the wake of an increase in extrajudicial killings, unsolicited abductions and arbitrary arrests against Kenyan citizens as well by the country’s security forces.

According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR), 60 deaths, 610 injuries and 1,376 arrests have been reported in the country in the period from June to November 2024, most of which have been attributed to the anti-government protests and the unpopularity wave that came with it.

To maintain and strengthen bilateral relations with the countries involved, the Kenyan government can deploy its forces, which are already being used to curtail domestic upheaval, to capture persons of interest on their behalf.

Nevertheless, it is more likely that the Kenyan government will sit pretty and let security and intelligence agents from the country in question do the dirty work. More often than not, the Kenyan government will collaborate, giving vital intelligence on the subject in question and providing logistical support to help in their capture.

A weakened legal system means that the government doesn’t have to adhere to reestablished procedures as required in extradition treaties, let alone having any extradition treaties with the countries in question in the first place.

The Aftermath

Kenya continues to face condemnation over its handling of ‘internationalised state-sanctioned abductions’. It has been criticized for allowing covert forces to terrorize and overpower political refugees exiled from their countries of origin, with little if any legal duress for doing so.

The international community is unconvinced of the country’s positioning as a beacon for freedom of association and expression for everyone living in it. Kenya’s popularism and influence, regionally and globally have been shaped in part by this characteristic profile.

The backlash comes at a crucial time, when Raila Odinga who has allied himself with the Kenyan government is seeking election to the chairmanship of the African Union.

Kenya risks losing out on establishing itself as a progressive country in a developing region of the world, avoiding falling into the chaos and political instability of its neighbours.