Uganda President warns traditional leaders fomenting trouble in Rwenzori

On Easter Monday 28th March 2016, Uganda's president and commander in chief of the Armed forces jumped on a military helicopter dressed in Military fatigue and looked every inch Combat ready. He was visiting the restive Rwenzori region for the first time since the outbreak of communal violence after the February 18th general elections. At least 20 people(accumulative figure)had been killed including 4 security officials in clashes btn bakonjo and Bamba-Babwisi in Bundibugyo and Kasese. Museveni visited kirumya and Ntotoro sub counties to assess the security situation. The violence begun in Kirumya where five people were killed including a woman and a 14 year old boy killed by machete wielding militia men reminiscent of Rwanda 1994 genocide shortly after Local gov't elections in March. Three hundred and sixty six(366) houses have so far reportedly been burnt by unknown people displacing over 10,000 people from their homes within Bundibugyo border district.The outgoing district Local gov't chairman Jolly Tibemanya told President Yoweri Museveni that the disaster preparedness ministry had not done enough to address the challenges of the Internally displaced persons-IDPs in his district. The communal violence is mainly between Bamba and Bakonjo ethnic communities are said to have been allies in their struggle against segregation and marginalization by ancient Tooro Kingdom in 1962.In 2014, a gang of militia armed with arrow and bows attacked key military installations including a military barracks of kanyamwirima in Bundibugyo. The conflict is laced with mysticism following reports that some militia men had been convinced by traditional medicine men that they could face any modern weapon unscathed after smearing their bodies with some herbal concoctions hence the incredible heroic confrontation with Security officials armed with AK 47 assault rifles. During the February 18 2016 elections, the two tribes voted on opposite sides with the Bamba/Babwisi voting for the incumbent and the Bakonzo voting the opposition with assurance that their grievances and needs would be addressed by the new FDC gov't.The Leader of the main opposition party Forum for Democratic Change-FDC Col.Kiiza Besigye visited the cultural leader of Bakonzo Charles Wesley Mumbere during elections and the two are said to have discussed issues of concern concerning his Cultural institution and hence the good returns in the general elections with all the 6 MPs elected on FDC ticket. However, Charles Mumbere says NRM mobilizers didn't do their work and hence the dismal returns. The internally displaced persons are in need of urgent attention and lack basic needs including health and sanitary services. The Rwenzori region lies astride the DRC-Uganda border and was used by Allied Democratic Forces ADF rebels who unleashed terror and havoc in the area from 1996-2001 before they were driven across the border to DRC.The ADF leader Jamil Mukulu was arrested in neighboring Tanzania in 2014 and extradited to Uganda where he is yet to be tried in courts of Law. In a press briefing at state lodge Njara in F/Portal on Easter Monday, President Yoweri Museveni urged the people of Rwenzori not to be misguided by Cultural leaders who don't care about their needs but enjoy seeing people prostrating before them. Museveni on a positive note said the conflict in Rwenzori is threatening tourism, and other economic activities like cocoa growing and vanilla which are the main economic activities in Bundibugyo and Kasese. The restive Rwenzori region remains a volatile area where a normal quarrel or act of theft of Agricultural produce could a park a tribal conflict anytime.

TENSION IN RWENZORI REGION AS TRIBAL CLASHES CLAIM AN ACCUMULATIVE 25 LIVES IN ONE MONTH

As the world marks the Easter holidays the cornerstone of the Christian faith the people living in restive Rwenzori region districts of Kasese and Bundibugyo are living in fear of their lives following a spate of clashes The death toll in restive Rwenzori region is rising with every passing day as the Bakonjo and Bamba/Babwisi ethnic communities who were once so close until central gov't accorded the Babwisi their own cultural Leader retired Lt.Col Kamya effectively curving the cultural institution out of Rwenzururu cultural institution of Charles Wesley Mumbere. The simmering tension between the two ethnic communities came to boiling point after the February and March general elections.While Kasese voted for Opposition FDC political party candidates from president to the lower Local Council, Bundibugyo and neighboring Kabarole voted the ruling National resistance Movement-NRM candidates including President Yoweri Museveni.At least 25 people have been killed in inter-communal violence between.In 2009, government restored or rather recognized the Cultural institution of the Obusinga under Charles Wesley Mumbere under the assumption that the cultural institution would cover even Bundibugyo where ancestral home and well aware that the two communities fought or resisted repression and segregation meted on them by Tooro kingdom in the 196os. It was a shock to the Bakonzo when government recognized and granted the Babwisi/Bamba their own cultural institution Obudinghigya which the Bakonzo interpreted as an act of betrayal. Meanwhile skirmishes between Bakonzo and security personnel have been reported in Kasese after LC election in Hima town council were won by NRM leaning Candidate. Addressing a press conference in Kasese recently the King/Cultural leader of Bakonzho urged people who don't pay allegiance to the institution not to incite the people or despise those who pay allegiance to the institution. In 2003, in my line of duty as journalist as Editor of A local fm radio in Fort Portal Uganda in Rwenzori region,a man who identified himself as Price SWALEH TIBAMWENDA came to see me in my office claiming to be the rightful or rather crown prince of Rwenzururu. Prince Swaleh belongs to the lineage of Basukale-Banyangalwa royal clan. According to Prince TIBAMWENDA,Mukirania-the father of Omusinga Mumbere,Kawamara and Peter Mupalya fought against Tooro discrimination as a political struggle but not as Royals themselves. It was news to me and I was hearing it for the very first time.In other news, there are reports or rather rumors of a secession movement which is is intent on building their own YIIRA state that would cover parts of Eastern DRC to Mubende which Obusinga administration has denied and dismissed as a fabrication. Several gov't officers and researchers insist that the agitation is real and sholdn't be denied. It reminded me of how some politicians at one point mooted the idea of seceding from uganda to form their own NILE REPUBLIC. The Bakonzho have their Kin across the border who are known as BAYIIRA. While interacting with my intellectual Bakonzho friends, they briefed me about how everybody else is a migrant and that they are the the only indigenous people of Uganda. Legislators and LC officials from Kasese say their area is marginalized and that during the 2007 land reform program, the program favored the Banyabindi, Basongora and other minorities. The Basongora are pastoralists or cattle keepers who the Bakonzho are cultivators.Clearly, the issues at hand are complex and need a Multi-sectoral approach and sober heads to address. As Nelson Mandela says, "Children are born innocent but it is the Adults that them to hate" Needless to say, there has been ........As I write this article, Inspector general of Police kale kayihura is camped in the Region and Sunday Sam a son of Monday who met and talked to the IGP yesterday has been speared to death. Sunday is one of the 5 people killed last night bringing to 25 the number of people killed over the last one month. On thursday night, a gang of people stormed kidodo police post in Kasese and killed one policeman and grabbed one AK47 which they took away. Research indicates that the Bakonzho have had longstanding and intricate grievances since colonial time and they only keep recurring.

The February 18 2016 general elections in Uganda are long gone but the repercussions are only beginning to be felt. At national level,one of the aggrieved contenders and looser of the presidential poll former Premier Amama Mbabazi has petitioned the supreme court as provided for under article 104 of the 1995 constitution of Uganda calling for the election which returned incumbent Yoweri Museveni as victor, to be cancelled on 28 grounds.The petitioner accuses first respondent of intimidating his supporters and taking undue advantage by using state facilities while the electoral commission is accused of failing to deliver voting materials on time and retiring the right voter's register which disenfranchising many voters. The President has been served the petition as first respondent with the Electoral Commission and Attorney general as 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively. Here in Rwenzori region, at least 12 people mainly women and children have been killed in post election related communal violence in Bundibugyo after supporters of rival district LC chairperson candidates embarked on hate speech and witch hunt of supporters of rival candidates. Most of the victims were attacked at night while they slept and their houses set on fire. Trouble broke out after early returns indicated that incumbent district Local council chairperson Jolly Tibemanya was leading and his supporters took to the streets to celebrate their candidate success. The electoral commission district returning officer Daniel Nayebare later after getting the results of the last 3 polling stations announced the flag bearer Mutegeki as winner which Tibemanya supporters could not comprehend and thought they has been robbed of their victory. Exactly One day after elections on 25th February 2016, hell broke loose with some aggrieved people while wielding machetes and other weapons descending of their own neighbors whom they believed to have been supporting rival candidates bludgeoning them to death while others were shot, others were hacked with machetes and knives. The killings were reminiscent of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Some of the victims are Karungi and her 5 year old daughter and Muhindo and health worker among others. The communal violence occurred in Busaaru subcounty. Speaking in an interview after the murderous incidents, the Outgoing LCV chairman Tibemanya denied that the communal violence was as a result of the elections but rather tribal.Tibemanya says he won't even challenge the results in court for fear of causing more tension among the people of Bundibugyo who are mainly Bamba/Babwisi and Bakhonzo The restive areas on the foothills of Rwenzori have only recovered from the July 2014 violence which saw a gang of people's militia do a daring attack on government military installations at kanyamwirima in which an estimated 100 people were killed by the military.