Uganda police arrest Rwenzururu King over clashes

Ugandan police have arrested a local monarch following deadly clashes that killed 55 people.

According to the police, security forces clashed with separatist militants who are linked to the ruler of the Kingdom of Rwenzururu in Kasese town.

The official death toll indicates that 14 police officers and 41 militants were killed during the fight, said the police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

President Yoweri Musevni called King Charles Wesley Mumbere Sunday and ordered him to disband the Royal Guard, which form part of a militia linked to a movement advocating for the creation of the “Republic of Yiira” at the border area between Western Uganda and part of North Kivu in the DRC.

Deadly Uganda clash blamed on Rwenzururu king's militia https://t.co/JX8GYGIBzX

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Before the assault, the spokesman for the King, Clarence Bwandale granted a telephone interview in which he said: “the situation is very volatile, many of our guards have been killed .”

“The King spoke with president Museveni this morning, who gave him two hours to dissolve his guard, which is impossible. We told him that the Kingdom had nothing to do with the separatists in the Republic of Yiira”, he added.

President Musevni had firmly rejected any idea of secession of a part of the territory: “Uganda will not lose one inch of territory for the benefit of the so-called Republic of Yiira”, he told the Daily Monitor newspaper.