A Ugandan traditional king has been charged with murder and sent to a high security prison today, a government official said, following clashes between his guards and the army in which at least 62 people were killed.
At least 149 people have been arrested in the Rwenzori region of western Uganda, where the tribal monarch is based. Security forces continued to search the mountainous the area for rebels.
The king, Charles Wesley Mumbere of the Kingdom of Rwenzururu, has been in detention since his palace was assaulted by the military on Sunday. He has been remanded to jail until Dec. 13, said Solomon Muyita, a spokesman for the judiciary.
At least 46 supporters of the king and 16 police have died in the clashes, according to Ugandan police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi. The actual death toll may be higher as many clashes happened deep in the villages and may not have been reported.
Most of those killed or in detention are guards who protected Mumbere, who is accused of harboring rebels in his hometown of Kasese, a stronghold of the political opposition near the border with Congo.
Weapons, including automatic guns and a cache of spears and machetes, had been seized following the assault on the palace, which followed two days of deadly skirmishes with the tribal militia, Internal Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo told reporters today.
The killings underscore tensions between longtime President Yoweri Museveni and influential tribal rulers who are constitutionally recognized but have no real authority or armies of their own.
Ahead of presidential polls in February, which were won by Museveni, Mumbere came out in support of the opposition, a move that appeared to violate the traditional leaders' code of conduct.
Museveni lost the popular vote in Kasese, and a month later clashes erupted between the security forces and militiamen who were believed to be loyal to Mumbere.
Among the king's supporters are separatists who hope to create a new republic called Yiira, which would include Mumbere's Bakonzo people and their relatives across the border in Congo.
The separatists are accused of printing their own money and even collecting taxes in some parts of the area.
In March, amid clashes between Mumbere's supporters and security officials, Museveni vowed to defeat the separatists, who complain of marginalization by the central government 340 kilometers away in the capital, Kampala.
"There can never be a Yiira Republic," Museveni said at the time.
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