Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is projecting the use of a military force in the restive Rwenzori region, which has not known peace for years, will help to restore calm. But the harder task is addressing the underlying cause of the continual conflict.

Constraints to productive land, a growing ethnic nationalism, and slim economic opportunities in the face of a swelling population have been blamed for the conflicts, particularly in Kasese and Bundibugyo districts.

President Museveni alluded to these issues during a week-long visit to the region to assess the security situation, but blamed the local leaders for failing to resolve them.

According to the president, the failure of the region’s leaders to tackle their people’s socio-economic challenges — especially poverty — has, over time, degenerated into a social crisis. This, he says, continues to worsen the longer it takes to tackle the challenges.

“You failed to handle your people’s interests, politicised them and continued with identity of tribes but this can’t generate lasting solutions. This is because different tribes have lived together in this region for centuries but the crisis today is because of the new socio-economic demands that are unresolved,” President Museveni reportedly told the leaders from Kasese district at Mweya Safari Lodge located inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. 

He was also reported to have castigated anyone fanning chaos in the district, saying this would be self-defeating. Given its tourism portfolio, any instability, he said, would only deny the people income earning opportunities, adding that the national economy would also suffer as tourists would no longer visit the country.

Kasese is home to two of Uganda’s 10 national parks: Rwenzori Mountain and Queen Elizabeth, the most visited park and a major source of tourism earnings.
It is part of the Queen Elizabeth Protected Area which covers the entire east and south of the district, and also comprises Kyambura and Kigezi wildlife reserves, and lakes Katwe, George and Edward.

The clashes in the region first broke out in Kasese and Bundibugyo, immediately after elections in February and went on throughout March. At least 50 people have been killed as a result of the clashes while many more have been injured and displaced. 

While in Bundibugyo, President Museveni launched a two-month military operation into the mountainous areas to flush out people suspected of orchestrating the clashes. He also ordered the army and the police to deploy heavily and ensure that peace and security returns in the region. As a result, at least 150 people have been arrested so far.

While the military intervention was necessary to quickly deal with the security concerns and prevent any rebel groupings from taking advantage of the fluid situation, some observers think it has scarcely little, if anything at all, to contribute to longer term solutions that will make conflicts history in the region.

Army and police

“The army and police are well positioned — in places we know rebels like to concentrate their activities. But they will need to be extremely sensitive to avoid misinterpretation of their mission. Part of that is not to overstretch it because in any case it doesn’t provide a long lasting solution,” said Julius Mwanga, the director of Kabarole Research Centre, which has conducted extensive research into the conflicts in the region.  

He added: “We need to use the calm atmosphere they will create to dig deep into the deep-rooted issues that keep fuelling conflicts and then commit all the resources needed, whether political, social or financial, to resolving them.”

In 2014, Bundibugyo was the main site of grisly attacks that rocked three districts in the region; over 100 people were killed, including at least 50 that the army shot and hurriedly buried in a mass grave near the camp of the 39 Battalion at Kanyamirima. Other mass graves were discovered in other locations.

No investigation has ever detailed the cause of these attacks, or who was buried in the mass graves and their killers.