Rwenzururu

Last updated

Kingdom of Rwenzururu
Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu
Flag of Rwenzururu.svg
Flag
Location of Rwenzururu in Uganda (map).png
Location of Rwenzururu (red)

in Uganda  (pink)

Capital Kasese
Official languages Konjo, English
Ethnic groups
Bakonjo
Baamba
Demonym(s) Rwenzururian [1]
Government Constitutional monarchy
•  Omusinga
Irema-Ngoma I
Johnson Thembo Kitsumbire
Independence
• declared from the Tooro Kingdom
30 June 1963
•  Autonomy
13 August 1982
• Recognition
17 March 2008
Area
• Total
4,808.2 km2 (1,856.5 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate
900,000
Currency Ugandan shilling
Time zone UTC+3 (EAT)
Calling code 256
Website
www.rwenzururu.or.ug

Rwenzururu is a subnational kingdom in western Uganda, located in the Rwenzori Mountains on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The kingdom includes the districts of Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntoroko. [2] Rwenzururu is also the name given to the region the kingdom is located in. And it started in 1963. [3]

Contents

Background

Road in Rwenzori region valley. Rwenzori road to Semilki National Park.jpg
Road in Rwenzori region valley.

The Rwenzururu region is inhabited by the Konjo and Amba peoples. In the early 20th century, these two tribes were integrated into the Kingdom of Toro as a political maneuver by the British colonialists: the neighboring Bunyoro monarchy was anti-colonialist and the British wished to strengthen the pro-British Toro. The Bakonjo and Baamba initially accepted being arbitrarily made subjects of the Toro monarch with resignation, but asked the Uganda Protectorate to provide them their own district in the 1950s, separate from the Toro District. [4] The movement declared that they were not part of the Toro Kingdom on 30 June 1962, three months before national independence. [5]

History

The Bakonzo and Baamba were serfs under Toro Kingdom. Toro controlled the Lake Katwe and the Kasenyi crater lakes where salt was mined. [6] The Batooro only taught their language in schools. Bursaries and scholarships, tax assessor positions, senior positions in the administration of the Tooro kingdom were primarily given to the Batooro. [6] These grievances caused Isaaya Mukirane, Peter Mupalia and Jeremiah Kawamara to walk out of the Rukurato, Toro kingdom’s parliament on the March 13, 1962. [6]

Isaaya Mukirane, Peter Mupalia and Jeremiah Kawamara submitted their grievances to Omukama Kamurasi Rukidi, who later rejected them. The three were arrested and charged for insulting the Omukama. They were released on bail on July 19, 1962. [6]

After their request was denied by the colonial authorities, the Bakonjo and Baamba launched a low-intensity guerrilla war that continued through independence after the Milton Obote regime warned them against secession. [6] The movement carrying out the armed struggle was named "Rwenzururu". [4] While the movement began to achieve recognition as a separate district, it eventually became a movement to secede and form their own kingdom. [7] The Rwenzururu Freedom movement declared an independent Kingdom of Rwenzururu on 30 June 1962, three months before national independence, with Isaya Mukirania as the Omusinga (king). [5] [8] [6] [3] [9]

The violence reached a height in 1963 and 1964, when Toro soldiers massacred many Konjo and Amba people as they sought to control the lower valleys. The Ugandan army intervened against the separatists, doing such significant damage to the Rwenzururu that the movement was suppressed for some time. [7] The movement, however, achieved fame through a local folk epic. [10]

In 1976 the Amin government created the district of Kasese separated from the Toro district, but the Rwenzururu deemed this insufficient. [6]

The Rwenzururu gradually re-established itself in the collapse of the regime of Idi Amin in 1979 where President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, granted Kasese district the right to appoint their own DC (district commissioner) and chiefs. [6]

In October 1980, Amon Bazira, a Uganda People’s Congress Member of parliament for Kasese talked with the Rwenzururu to support the UPC. And the Rwenzururu used terrorist strategies to force people to vote for UPC. [6] Those strategies led to the assassination of Vito Muhindo who was the Democratic Party candidate. And Chrispus Kiyonga a Uganda Patrotic Movement candidate won the Member of Parliament seat. [6] The Batooro, Bakiga and Banyankore were not allowed to register as candidates as they were informed to leave Kasese district before the registrations begun. [6]

As government soldiers retreated in the Uganda-Tanzania War, the Rwenzururu looted the weapons and supplies left behind. Thus well-armed, the Rwenzururu was once again able to pose a serious threat to regional control from 1979 to 1982. In 1982, however, the administration of President Milton Obote negotiated a settlement with the Rwenzururu leaders in which they agreed to abandon the goal of secession in exchange for "a degree of local autonomy," the appointment of Bakonjo and Baamba to government administrative posts, and economic benefits such as vehicles and educational scholarships to be distributed by local elders. [11] During the negotiations, the government preferred direct talks, as they believed third-party mediation would give legitimacy to the Rwenzururu claim. [12]

Amon Bazira had been a key person in the negotiations between the Rwenzururu and Obote government. His insight was that the Rwenzururu was a largely middle class organization that could be placated with commercial prizes. He later approached President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, who both had grounds for disliking the new Ugandan government led by Yoweri Museveni, for support for new Bakonjo rebellion under an organization called the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU). Bazira was shot dead in the State House in Nakuru, Kenya in 1993, a probable target of Ugandan agents. [13] In 1995, Sudanese agents engineered the merging of the remnants of NALU with the Uganda Muslim Liberation Army and the Baganda monarchist Allied Democratic Movement in order to give these latter organizations a local constituency, creating the Allied Democratic Forces. [14]

Charles Mumbere was installed as the Omusinga wa Rwenzururu after the death of his father (Isaya Mukirania by the clan leaders and the elders. [3] [15]

Government recognition

In 2001, the Bakonzo asked the Ugandan government for their own state. [16]

A survey carried out by Makerere University found that 87% of the local population in Rwenzururu favored the creation of a kingdom. [17] [18] [19] In 2005, President Museveni directed a ministerial committee headed by Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Service Henry Kajura to investigate the Rwenzururu claim to a kingdom and issue a report of his findings. The report stated that over 80% of the Bakonjo and Baamba favoured the creation of a kingdom with Charles Mumbere as the Omusinga (king). [20] [21] It further found that there is no historical claim for a Rwenzururu kingdom or a group of people called Banyarwenzururu, but recommended that the government bow to the wishes of the people. [22] [23] Pursuant to these recommendations, on 17 March 2008 the Ugandan cabinet endorsed the Kingdom of Rwenzururu as a cultural institution and crowned Mumbere as Omusinga Irema-Ngoma I. [20] [24] [25] [26] Three contenders for the throne criticized the government's recognition of Mumbere as Omusinga of Rwenzururu. [27] [25] The government restored Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu in 2009. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Kasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, the town of Kasese is the site of the district headquarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasese</span> Place in Western Region, Uganda

Kasese is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the capital of Kasese District. Kasese is also the largest town in the Rwenzururu region. In 2020 it had an estimated population 115,400. It lies north of Lake George and east of Rwenzori Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rukidi IV of Toro</span> Leader of kingdom within Uganda

Rukirabasaija Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, King Oyo, is the reigning Omukama of Tooro, in Uganda. He was born on 16 April 1992 to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo. Three and half years later in 1995, Oyo ascended the throne and succeeded his father to become the 12th ruler of the 180-year-old Kingdom of Tooro.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crispus Kiyonga</span> Ugandan politician

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The Konjo, BaKonzo, or Konzo, are a Bantu ethnic group located in the Rwenzori region of Southwest Uganda in districts that include; Kasese, Bundibugyo, Bunyangabu and Ntoroko districts.

Amba is a Bantu ethnic group located on the border area between the DRC and Uganda south of Lake Albert in the northern foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. On the Uganda side, they are found in Bundibugyo District. On the Congolese side, they are located in the Watalinga and Bawisa subcounties of Beni, South Kivu. Numbering 42,559 on the Uganda side in the 2014 census and 4,500 on the Congolese side according to a 1991 SIL International estimate, Ethnologue lists their total population as 40,100. Agriculturalists, the Baamba traditionally cultivate plantains, millet, maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts, rice, coffee, cotton, and cassava, while raising goats and sheep. The Baamba practice Christianity.

Charles Wesley Mumbere,(born in 1952) known by his royal title Irema-Ngoma I, is the king of the African kingdom of Rwenzururu, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Mumbere was arrested in December 2016 after the clashes in the kingdom's capital of Kasese, and has since been in prison awaiting trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toro sub-region</span>

Toro sub-region is a region in Uganda that is coterminous with Toro Kingdom in Western Uganda. The districts that constitute the sub-region include the following:

The Songora or Shongora also known as "Bacwezi", "Chwezi", Huma or "Bahuma") are a traditionally pastoralist people of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa

Mubuku is a settlement in Uganda.

Yenga is an Amba village in western Uganda, Bundibugyo District, on the border with the Congo. It lies in the rift valley between Lake Albert and Lake Edward above the Semliki River. The village is within the borders of the Semuliki National Park. To the south of the village are the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. While Yenga is only 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the district capital of Bundibugyo, the nearest town of substance is Fort Portal. Yenga is located in lowland tropical rainforest, much like the Ituri Rainforest across the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasese clashes</span>

Violence erupted on 26 November 2016 in the town of Kasese, the capital of the Ugandan Kingdom of Rwenzururu, when Ugandan police raided the government offices of the Rwenzururu kingdom, killing eight Rwenzururian royal guards and arresting two others. According to the government of Uganda, the raid was in response to militant attacks on police posts in the region two weeks earlier, allegedly perpetrated by the royal guards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rwenzururu movement</span>

The Rwenzururu movement was an armed secessionist movement active in southwest Uganda, in the subnational kingdom of Tooro. The group was made up of Konjo and Amba fighters and was led by Isaya Mukirania. It disbanded in 1982 following successful peace negotiations with the Ugandan government.

Isaya Mukirania, known by his royal title Kibanzanga I, was the leader of the Rwenzururu movement and the first Omusinga (king) of the Kingdom of Rwenzururu on 30 June 1963. He was formally succeeded by his son Charles Mumbere over 43 years after his death, on 19 October 2009.

The Omusinga wa Rwenzururu is the royal title given to the monarchs of the Kingdom of Rwenzururu. The title was technically held by Charles Mumbere for over 43 years after the first Omusinga, his father Isaya Mukirania, died in 1966. However, Mumbere was not formally crowned and recognised by the Ugandan government until 2009.

The Prime minister of Rwenzururu, known locally as the omulerembera, is the highest administrative post within the government of the Kingdom of Rwenzururu in Uganda. The appointment is the prerogative of the monarch.

Florence Kabugho is a Ugandan politician and former radio journalist, elected to the eleventh Parliament of Uganda in the 2021 general election, as the woman representative for Kasese District.

Kambale Ferigo is a Ugandan politician and legislator, representing Kasese municipality in the 11th Parliament of Uganda.

References

  1. ↑ Doornbos, Martin (2017). The Rwenzururu Movement in Uganda: Struggling for Recognition. Routledge. ISBN   9781351708982 . Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  2. ↑ MUHINDO, SAMUEL. "Why every Mukonzo family seems to have a Baluku, Bwambale or Kule". The Observer - Uganda. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rwenzururu the very spirit of the Bakonzo". New Vision. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  4. 1 2 Prunier, 82
  5. 1 2 "Our History", rwenzururu.or.ug (accessed 13 February 2017)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TUCCIARONE, EMMA MUTAIZIBWA & ALEXANDER. "How Rwenzururu kingdom came to be". The Observer - Uganda. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  7. 1 2 Rothchild, 90
  8. ↑ "Rwenzururu Kingdom wants Isaya Mukirania declare hero". Ugpulse (Ultimate Media). 5 September 2011.
  9. ↑ "Bwambale helped found Rwenzururu Kingdom". Monitor. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. ↑ Prunier, 82-83. See Kirsten Alnaes, "Songs of the Rwenzururu Rebellion," in P. H. Gulliver, ed., Tradition and Transition in East Africa (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 243-272.
  11. ↑ Forrest, 222
  12. ↑ Rothchild, 91
  13. ↑ Prunier, 83
  14. ↑ Prunier, 87
  15. ↑ "The return of Rwenzururu; the kingdom of the hills". The EastAfrican. 14 November 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ "Bakonzo elite ask Govt for own state". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  17. ↑ "Uganda: Welcome Rwenzururu", editorial by the New Vision , 31 March 2008
  18. ↑ "Must the Bakonzo eat a rat first?". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  19. ↑ "Bakonzo Hold Talks Over Rwenzururu". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Cabinet recognises Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu" Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , Ugee! Uganda Online, 31 March 2008 (accessed 6 June 2009)
  21. ↑ "Bakonzo mass circumcision ceremony called off". Monitor. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  22. ↑ "Uganda: Rwenzururu Kingdom Has Never Existed" by Caleb Mukirane, opinion in New Vision , 3 October 2007 (accessed 6 June 2009)
  23. ↑ "No Bakonzo Kingdom, Says Kiyonga". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  24. ↑ Kiyonga, Derrick. "Basongora run to court over dominant Bakonzo". The Observer - Uganda. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  25. 1 2 "Bakonzo celebrate recognition of Rwenzururu kingdom". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  26. ↑ "When will the Bakonzo king be". New Vision. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  27. ↑ "Bakonzo contestants attack govt over Mumbere’s kingship" [ permanent dead link ] by Ephraim Kasozi & Joseph Miti, The Monitor , 7 April 2008 (accessed 6 June 2009)

Further reading

  1. The Deepening Politics of Fragmentation in Uganda: Understanding Violence in the Rwenzori Region
  2. About Rwenzori Region

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