ONE YEAR AFTER POLICE RAIDED AND CAUSE 100 DEATHS IN THE UGANDAN ROYAL COMPOUND.

THE ECONOMIST | This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Fall of the mountain king"

THE palace gates are locked, but the bullet holes remain. It is a year since the Ugandan army and police raided the compound of the Rwenzururu king in the western town of Kasese. More than 100 people were killed, the bloodiest incident in the country for more than a decade.

The king, Charles Wesley Mumbere, and nearly 200 people were arrested; they still await trial, on charges including murder, terrorism and treason.

“The situation is only calm on the surface,”

says Geoffrey Madebeya, a local councillor.

“Inside, we have tears.”

The Bakonzo people, the main ethnic group in Kasese, straddle the vertiginous borderland between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Rwenzori mountains.

It is here, the Ugandan government alleges, that Bakonzo radicals want to carve out an independent kingdom.

The king denies this, but people in these parts have long felt marginalised by the state.

Deadly violence erupted in 2014 after groups of young Bakonzo men attacked police and army posts.

On November 26th 2016, the day before the palace raid, at least 40 civilians and 16 police officers died in clashes at the kingdom’s offices and rural police stations.

King Mumbere once led a state of sorts, founded by his secessionist father. From its mountain base the unrecognised kingdom collected taxes, ran schools and sent hopeful letters to the United Nations.

In 1982 Mr Mumbere came down from the hills, trading dreams of statehood for a house, some cars and a scholarship to study in America.

The kingdom was restored in 2009, but only as a “cultural institution” that is meant to rise above politics.

Yet politics is inescapable. The kingdom’s supporters lean towards the opposition.

The government tried to buy them off, luring the king’s brother with a cabinet post.

But pumping out patronage may have fed ethnic divisions. “The Bakonzo people have taken our land,” complains Nelson Byabasaija, who belongs to an ethnic minority.

Other groups soon demanded their own kingdoms, saying they wanted to be free from Bakonzo domination.

Cultural politics are especially intense in Kasese, but the region is not unique.

The Ugandan nation was thrown together from a jumble of pre-colonial kingdoms and decentralised societies.

Traditional institutions were abolished after independence. They have made a comeback under Yoweri Museveni, the president, though he worries about their power.

In Kasese there has been no investigation into the massacre. Peter Elwelu, the commander in charge that day, has been promoted.

Maria Burnett of Human Rights Watch says the killings illustrate the “entrenched impunity” of Mr Museveni’s regime.

Chapter Four, a Ugandan human-rights group, says three people have been killed by the security forces in recent months.

A fourth was shot on the anniversary of the raid.

In 1921 the British suppressed the first Bakonzo rebellion by hanging three of its leaders.

The state has chosen force over reconciliation ever since. That approach does not work, says a local clan leader.
“It may take time for the violence to return,”

he says.

“But as long as the king is not free, it will come.”

SOURCE:

economist.com

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT BUHARI TO REDUCE AGE LIMITS FOR POLITICAL OFFICE.

Lagos, NIGERIA: Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari will approve a new law to reduce age limits in political office, which could make it easier for younger candidates to run in next year's election. The move comes after intense pressure from youth groups, which pushed the government to adopt the legislation, saying they were politically marginalised. "In (a) few days to come, I will be joined by many promising young Nigerians to sign into law the 'Not Too Young To Run' bill," President Buhari, 75, said in a speech to mark the country's annual Democracy Day public holiday. Last month President Buhari said that he would run for a second term next year. The bill reduces the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 35, and senators and state governors from 35 to 30. The minimum age for national and state assembly members will now become 25. He also reassured Nigerians during his speech of the administration's commitm...

NAMIBIA VOWS TO GRAB FARMS FROM WHITE FARMERS.

Okahandja, NAMIBIA: Vibrant rows of neatly lined plants grow on a patch once trampled by the cattle of a large commercial farm run by a family of German descent in Namibia. From that 2,400 square-meter rectangle of sand in the northern Otjozondjupa region, Kornelius Hamasab, 69, now produces spinach, onions and tomatoes. Hamasab is among the 16 percent of black Namibians owning arable land in the semi-desert southwest African nation. White Namibians, who are descended from former colonizers Germany and South Africa and make up six percent of the population, own 70 percent of the land. "It doesn't seem right to me," said Hamasab, who acquired his land as compensation five years after the farm downsized into a guesthouse in 2000 and laid off its staff. "The government should do something about it," he added, while his family picked and rinsed collared greens to be sold in the capital Windhoek, 150 kilometers away. Namibia adopted ...

NIGERIAN STUDENTS GIVE SOUTH AFRICANS & THEIR COMPANIES 7 DAYS TO LEAVE NIGERIA.

Abuja, NIGERIA: T he National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has given all South Africans and their companies operating in Nigeria to shut down within seven days and move out of the country, following the increasing number of Xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa. Akpan made the call at a press conference organised by the Chairman, National Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja yesterday August 7th. At the press conference, Akpan said enough is enough with the xenophobic attacks. According to him, Nigerians have tolerated the attacks enough and a decisive action against South Africans must be taken to show strength by the Nigerian government. In his words He said that the picketing exercise was peacefully carried with the hope that the government of South Africa and her citizens would end all forms of attacks on citizens of Nigeria and other African nations. “Behold, the killings have continued and has even assumed a m...

KING MSWATI III IMPORTS 19 ROLLS ROYCE & 120 BMWs FOR PERSONAL USE.

Mbabane, ESWATINI: King Mswati III, the ruler of poverty-stricken African nation Eswatini, has been accused of ‘showing the middle finger’ to his subjects as he flaunts his lavish car collection. Eswatini, known until last year as Swaziland, is a developing country with a comparatively small economy. The average salary in the country is estimated at around £10,000 – meaning that most Swazis would have to work all their lives to get even near owning a Rolls Royce. The 20 Rolls Royces are reportedly to be shared between the King's 15 wives . Image: CEN. Mswati III has this week imported 19 Rollers for his personal use and has reportedly also bought 120 BMWs. Opposition politician Wandile Dludlu condemned the king’s purchase of these luxury vehicles. "Last week, a total of 19 Rolls-Royce cars were delivered to Swaziland for the exclusive use of the king, his mother and his wives," said. "According to reports, some of these cars a...

A 26-YEARS-OLD WOMAN ADOPTS 14 AFRICAN ORPHANS.

London, ENGLAND: A young British woman has become mum to a staggering 14 Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage on her gap year. Letty McMaster, 26, was just 18 years old when a month-long trip volunteering at an orphanage in Africa changed her life forever. She ended up staying for three years to support the children she had met, and when the orphanage shut down, Letty took in nine youngsters who would have been left homeless. Seven years on, she lives with the children after becoming legal guardian to them ALL - as well as five more kids she met on the streets or at a safe house she runs. Letty McMaster. Letty, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: "These children are my whole life, I raise them all on my own and they keep me going through the long hours of juggling everything. "I'd always had in mind that I wanted to help street children so my family and friends weren't surprised but I never expected to end up doing all this. " I am the pa...

CANADA BEGS ONE MILLION IMMIGRANTS FROM KENYA.

Ottawa, CANADA : The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has pleaded without Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, to allow one million Kenyans enter Canada under a new Employment and Migration Programme designed for immigrants. According to Trudeau, immigrants from Kenya have been a strong force in Canada’s growth in all sectors of its economy. “We can’t undermine or overlook the contribution of immigrants in Canada’s development especially our brothers and sisters from Kenya”, Trudeau said. The PM added that, over the past three years, Canada has granted residency to all Kenyans who were illegally living in Canada and applied to remain. “We granted them and urging everyone to apply. It’s good we document everyone to know how many people we are to cater for” , he said. In a memo sent to the Kenya Embassy in Canada, the Employment and Migration Programme will allow Kenyans wishing to live in Canada to first obtain job before traveling to the country. “The ...

WOMAN WHO HAD 44 CHILDREN BY 36 YEARS-OLD BANNED FROM HAVING MORE BABIES.

Kampala, UGANDA: Mariam Nabatanzi had her first set of twins when she was just 13 and has since had another five sets, three sets of quads and four sets of triplets Mariam Nabatanzi suffers from a rare genetic condition and had given birth to 44 children by the age of 36. Tragically, Mariam has been left to raise her massive family alone after her husband walked out on her almost four years ago. Now 40, doctors have taken action to stop Mariam having more children after it emerged her father had 45 children with several different women. Mariam has three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets and six sets of twins and incredibly manages to care for and feed them all on her own. The fertile mum was just 12 when she was married to her husband, who at 40 was 28 years her senior. Just a year later she gave birth to her first set of twins. Now, she and all of her kids have no choice to live in appallingly cramped conditions in just four ...

"WHY I RIDE MY BIKE TO WORK", PRIME MINISTER OF NETHERLANDS EXPLAINS.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on his bicycle. Image: Reuters. The Hague, NETHERLANDS: With its sweeping views over the sparkling Hofvijver pond, the Binnenhof – the Gothic castle in the heart of The Hague that houses the States General of the Netherlands – is quite something. It’s little wonder Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte enjoys commuting to his office there. And recently he’s made the journey by bike as often as possible. “I didn't cycle a lot for 10 years. But for the past two years, I’ve had my own bike again and, when the weather allows, I travel into the office that way,” he told the World Economic Forum. The Dutch are famous for their love of cycling. In 2018, the country had more bicycles than people : 23 million to 17 million. More than a quarter of all trips in the country are made by bike and of those, a quarter are for getting work, like Rutte. He explains why it’s long been such a phenomenon: “The Dutch love cycling beca...

RWANDA PRESIDENT KAGAME APPOINTMENTS WORLD YOUNGEST MINISTER(19-YEARS OLD).

Kigali, RWANDA: Rwandan President Paul Kagame has just appointed a 19-year-old boy as Minister. Patrick Nkuriza, 19, appointed Minister of New Technologies and Development of Rwanda by President Paul Kagame on Sunday. The Rwandan President who has always insisted on competence, nothing but competence, did not hesitate to materialize his famous saying which says: “ to well-born souls, value does not wait for the number of years”, by naming this young boy. Patrick, is prodigy who experienced a dramatic rise to the point of getting the baccalaureate at 14 and obtaining a PhD in digital communication engineer afterwards. Patrick is a real gifted person who has developed several applications which allow his country to make its activities very efficient in many economic fields. It is therefore right that he is appointed minister in his field. Patrick, who lives with his parents and goes to work accompanied by his father in his car escorted home. Also, it is her mother who washes her cl...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog