Museveni Breaks Silence on Arrested Kenyan Activists, Says They Claimed to Be “Experts in Riots”

President Yoweri Museveni has admitted that Ugandan authorities detained two Kenyan activists who had gone missing for weeks, describing them as “experts in riots” linked to opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine.

President Yoweri Museveni has admitted that Ugandan authorities detained two Kenyan activists who had gone missing for weeks, describing them as “experts in riots” linked to opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine.

Speaking on a radio talk show in Mbale on Saturday, Museveni revealed that the two Kenyans were picked up by security agencies after allegedly working with Wine’s movement.

“Even our own groups here, we monitor them with intelligence. We have very good intelligence, and we know them,” Museveni said. “Like, for instance, we have got two Kenyans whom we arrested. They have been with us. They were working with Chagulanyi’s group. They are experts in riots.”

The president went on to claim that the pair had been “in the refrigerator for some days,” a colloquial reference to being held in custody. He accused unnamed foreign groups of funding youth movements to destabilise Uganda’s progress.

“Some Kenyans leaders rang me saying I should either put them in court or hand them back. But you know they have foreign backing – funded by foreign groups worried about Uganda’s progress,” Museveni added.

His comments came hours after Kenyan rights organisations announced that the missing activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, had resurfaced alive and were being escorted back to Nairobi.

According to the activist organisation Vocal Africa, the two men were safe after spending over a month missing in Uganda. They disappeared five weeks ago after attending a political event in support of Bobi Wine.

Eyewitnesses said they were forced into a car by masked men in uniform. Ugandan police had repeatedly denied holding them, but human rights groups in both countries lobbied for their release.

In a joint statement, Vocal Africa, the Law Society of Kenya, and Amnesty International thanked Kenyan and Ugandan authorities, diplomats, journalists, and “all active citizens who tirelessly campaigned for this moment.”

“Let this moment signal an important shift towards upholding the human rights of East Africans anywhere in the East African Community,” Vocal Africa wrote.

Museveni’s admission appears to contradict earlier denials by Ugandan security agencies. The revelation has drawn renewed attention to a pattern of cross-border detentions targeting activists and opposition figures across East Africa.

Last year, Njagi was abducted in Kenya under similar circumstances and later resurfaced after a court ordered police to produce him. Other activists, including Kenya’s Boniface Mwangi and Uganda’s Agather Atuhaire, have reported being detained and abused while in Tanzanian custody before being dumped at their borders.

Rights groups warn that such coordinated crackdowns signal growing regional collaboration to stifle dissent, particularly ahead of Uganda’s 2026 elections, where Bobi Wine is set to challenge Museveni’s nearly four-decade rule.