Security forces detained Charles Wesley Mumbere in November after his royal guards clashed with military and police who accused them of refusing an order to disarm and surrender. He was subsequently charged with treason, murder, terrorism and other offences alongside dozens of his guards detained in the aftermath of fighting that left more than 60 people dead. Government officials accuse Mumbere, a traditional leader of the Bakonzo people in Uganda's Rwenzori region near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, of seeking to create a separate state. Critics of the government accuse Museveni of using security forces to unleash violence in the region in retaliation for its rejection of the ruling party. Rights group Amnesty International said security forces had carried out extrajudicial killings in its clashes with the guards.

Source: Standard Digital February 07, 2017 09:37 UTC