President Museveni is today expected to address the ruling party’s parliamentary caucus on the circumstances that triggered the military assault on Rwenzururu Kingdom’s Buhikira palace last month.
At least 116 people have been confirmed to have died during the raid, which also reportedly left an unknown number of both adults and children either injured or missing.
Mr Museveni has not made any public comments about the killings or torching of the palace that occurred on November 27 and the tensions, which have been raging in the Rwenzori sub-region over the past month.
Mr Museveni has come under criticism for his role in ordering the attacks. MPs from the affected areas say they are preparing to file a suit in the International Criminal Court calling for the prosecution of senior military and other officers suspected to have committed crimes against humanity during the military assault.
Mr Museveni is only quoted as having told army high command members on December 7 that King Mumbere refused orders to disarm, disband and surrender the royal guards, thus justifying the raid on his palace.
Rwenzori killings
Yesterday, government chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa could not definitively indicate whether the President will tackle the dicey issue of the killings in the Rwenzori sub-region.
“They [MPs] will find the agenda in State House. That’s a tough question for me. The President will come with his programmes. This is a caucus meeting where I am not fully in charge of the agenda. We have members’ issues. If time allows, we might handle that [Kasese killings] as we wait for the host. But if he [the President] comes on time, we will begin on his agenda, “Ms Nankabirwa said.
Summons
Caucus spokespeson Margaret Muhanga confirmed that Mr Museveni had summoned NRM MPs to State House, Entebbe but could not say what is on the agenda of the meeting because she was just arriving from a trip abroad.
Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere and at least 150 co-accused were on Wednesday arraigned before the Jinja Magistrate’s Court and charged with terrorism, treason, aggravated robbery and causing malicious damage.
The charges relate to attacks on the police in far western Uganda since March. King Mumbere faces separate murder charges involving the unrelated death of police constable Godfrey Kasimba on March 24, 2016.
©Alleastafrica and Daily Monitor
