East Africans find fragile refuge in Kenya as repression soars

Tanzanian opposition official David Djumbe fled to Kenya after a crackdown on dissidents in his country, but now lives in constant fear of a cross-border abduction.

Dozens of Ugandans and Tanzanians are thought to be hiding in neighbouring Kenya after recent elections in their countries triggered mass arrests, kidnappings, and murders.

Five refugees agreed to speak to AFP. Each said they knew between 20 and 40 others who had fled to Kenya in recent months.

Djumbe was personal assistant to Tanzania's opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who was jailed ahead of October's election.

Tanzania's security forces unleashed a ruthless crackdown on protests sparked by alleged rigging of the vote, with rights groups and the opposition saying thousands were killed. The government says it was 518.

After the vote -- in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan winning 98 percent -- Djumbe received a warning by phone call, saying: "You only have three days before you disappear."

"Once they've extracted all the information from you through torture, they'll kill you and dump your body on the roadside so everyone knows your story has ended," he told AFP.

Djumbe said his home was then raided twice by men who identified themselves as police officers, forcing him to flee the country under cover of darkness.

"I entered Kenya secretly... I had to cross the border without following formal procedures," he said.

He spent six months in a safe house in Kenya before returning home in May, believing the threat had eased.

But just three days later, he was grabbed off the street and bundled into a car.

By chance, some local motorbike taxi drivers saw his abduction and followed the car, creating enough of a commotion to allow him to escape. He fled for a second time to Kenya.

'Very rough'

Ugandan rights activist Eriza, who asked to give a fake name for fear of reprisals, said he was on an army hit-list during elections in January in which President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh straight term.

Ugandan army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba openly boasts on social media of kidnapping and torturing opposition figures. By BADRU KATUMBA (AFP/File)

The president's son, army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, openly boasts on social media of kidnapping and torturing opposition figures in his "basement" and spearheaded a crackdown during the election, saying on X that security forces had killed 30 opposition supporters and arrested 2,000.

The main opposition candidate, Bobi Wine, was forced into hiding and has now fled to the United States.

"There was no point in waiting... I had seen threats against comrades materialise in a very dangerous way," Eriza told AFP.

Luka, a lawyer for a prominent Ugandan rights organisation who also gave a false name, fled to the Kenyan coast after a tip-off that he was at risk of arrest.

"The environment in Uganda is very rough for doing human rights-related work. Not the worst of the worst, but it's getting there gradually," he said.

Targeted war

Kenyan security forces have been accused of dozens of abductions targeting government critics. By Luis TATO (AFP/File)

The interviewees said they only feel "relatively safe" in Kenya.

Kenyan security forces have been accused of dozens of abductions targeting government critics -- which they deny -- especially since mass protests against President William Ruto in 2024.

But it remains a relative safe-haven compared to the extreme repression in its neighbours.

"In Kenya, although systems are intentionally being weakened and eroded, there still is a stronger civil society, a stronger media presence and judiciary," said Mwanase Ahmed, of the Pan-African Solidarity Network.

Its neighbours do not always respect national boundaries, however.

In 2024, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was abducted in Nairobi and forcibly returned to Uganda, where he is facing treason charges that he says are a farce.

Two months later, well-known Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi was abducted in Kenya, though an immediate outcry by rights groups secured her release before she was smuggled over the border.

Eriza says Ugandan operatives "are here... They wait for you. They go to clubs and cafes."

He only meets people in public places and during the day, so that if he is "seized in broad daylight", there will be witnesses.