The Ugandan army announced that two pilots from Kampala were recently kidnapped by armed men in the South Kivu region, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The pilots, employees of the “Ocean Heights Aviation Training Centre,” which specializes in flight training, had been sent to South Kivu to pick up employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and return them to Kampala.
According to the Daily Monitor, the pilots took off from Entebbe Airport in Kampala on March 27, 2025, aboard a Cessna Caravan, heading toward eastern DRC, and arrived during the night.
As the plane was approaching Kavumu Airport, unidentified armed men attacked it. Despite the incident, the plane managed to land, but the pilots were kidnapped and taken to an unknown location.
It was reported that one of the passengers was shot and killed, while the two pilots survived. The kidnappers then contacted Kampala, demanding a ransom for their release.
The acting spokesperson of the Ugandan army, Colonel Chris Magezi, clarified on March 31, 2025, that the pilots were not military personnel but civilians, contrary to what some media outlets had reported.
“The plane was being used by the ICRC to evacuate some of its employees from Bukavu. The journey went smoothly at first, but once they arrived, the situation escalated. According to available information, one of the passengers was shot and killed, and the two pilots were kidnapped. They are civilians,” he added.
Colonel Magezi also stated that the Ugandan government, through diplomacy, was closely monitoring the situation to try to resolve it. However, he noted that the military would only be involved if required.
