Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2014 23:12:17 +0200
65 people die in Uganda as tribal gunmen and govt soldiers clash
6 July, 2014 11:37 PM
AFP/Kampala
At least 65 people have been killed in clashes between tribal gunmen and
Ugandan government troops in the west of the country near the border with
the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said yesterday.
It was not immediately clear what sparked and who was behind the violence,
but the region has been hit by recent communal violence between Christians
and Muslims, and is also an area where an Islamist rebel group is known to
operate.
"So far 54 of the attackers have been put out of action, and 40 of their
colleagues have been captured and are in custody, effectively bringing
sanity to the region," said a regional army spokesman, Ninsiima Rwemijuma.
"We are still combing the area for any of the thugs that could be hiding,"
he added.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said the overall toll from the clashes on
Saturday and security sweep on Sunday stood at 65 dead, with several
civilians and soldiers among the casualties.
The violence occurred in the areas of Kasese and Bundibugyo, close to the
Rwenzori mountains which straddle the border between Uganda and DR Congo.
"We urge the public not to panic as the situation is getting back to normal
and there is enough deployment by the army and police," he added.
The clashes came hours after the army announced it had killed a person
suspected of involvement in an attack by Muslims on a church in the border
region two weeks ago, during which a woman was decapitated by the attackers
and her head placed on the altar.
That attack in turn prompted retaliatory attacks against Muslims by
Christians, according to Ugandan media reports.
Both the army and police denied the attacks were related to any rebel group,
instead blaming local tribal and communal tensions.
"There was an attack by tribal gunmen on our barracks in Bundibugyo and we
repulsed them," Uganda's army spokesman, Paddy Ankunda, told AFP. "It is an
ugly situation but we have brought the situation under control."
The Kasese and Bundibugyo attacks are linked to tribal differences, not the
ADF," Ankunda said, referring to the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist
rebel group fighting the Ugandan government and based in the DR Congo border
region.
"We have captured three of the attackers and we are interrogating them. We
will get to know who is behind it," Ankunda said.
On Tuesday the UN Security Council decided to slap sanctions on the ADF,
which is accused of recruiting child soldiers, sexual abuse of women and
children and attacks on peacekeepers in DR Congo's eastern Kivu region, home
to myriad rebel groups.
The ADF reportedly has ties to Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shebaab rebels,
which have also carried out attacks on Ugandan soil in retaliation for
Kampala's support for an African Union force helping Somalia's
internationally-backed government.
A trader from Bundibugyo, Chrisostom Muranga, told AFP that the attackers
appeared to have been "well co-ordinated".
"They targeted police and army installations that were not well guarded," he
said.
65 people die in Uganda as tribal gunmen and govt soldiers clashUgandan
soldiers detain men suspected to be militia members after gunmen attacked
Bundibugyo town.
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