Uganda: One Killed in Fresh Kasese Land Clash
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The Monitor (Kampala)
10 October 2008
Posted to the web 10 October 2008
Michael Karugaba and Kagyenda Bwebale
One person was killed and two others injured following renewed land clashes between the Basongora pastoralists and Bakonzo cultivators in Kasese District.
The District Police Commander, Mr Felix Ebong, told Daily Monitor on phone that the incident happened on Wednesday afternoon in Kayanja Village Kitswamba Sub-county after the Basongora attacked the cultivators accusing them of encroaching on their land.
The Police publicist for western region, Mr Elly Maate, identified the dead as Ezekiel Bingibyaghire, 50, a cultivator and a resident of Bigando Village Kitswamba Sub-county. The injured are both cultivators whose identities could not easily be established by press time. They were rushed to Kilembe Mines Hospital in critical condition.
During the clash, close to 40 houses belonging to the pastoralists were burnt by enraged cultivators and property worth millions was reduced to ashes.
The clash, which started from Kayanja, later spilled to Bigando Village about 10km away where several houses were burnt and three cows belonging to Mr Nicodemus Mbuba were killed. But the DPC denied knowledge of any dead cow and said only the cultivators wanted to take them alive but the Police prevented them from doing so. The Police have since increased its presence in the area to avert more clashes.
However Daily Monitor saw two carcasses with some parts chopped. The pastoralists accused the Police of siding with the cultivators, participating in the burning of some houses and attempting to shoot those who tried to defend their properties. But Mr Maate denied any Police involvement in the clashes. "I don't think that can happen," said Mr Maate in a phone interview.
Police has since arrested over 20 pastoralists on charges of murder and are currently being held at Kasese Police Station. Mr Maate identified some of the suspects as Mr Abel Mulindwa, Mr Robert Rukundo, Mr Amos Rwakabana and Mr Amos Karangwa. The clashes come less than three months when another cultivator was killed during a bloody clash between the two sides in Munkunyu Sub-county.
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There have been bloody clashes between the two sides since October last year when the pastoralists were chased from Queen Elizabeth National Park and resettled on some parts of government land.
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