Gunfire rocked Kiryatete in Hoima municipality on Wednesday as police moved in to quell a violent tribal clash between the Banyoro and the Alur.
The chaotic scenes followed an incident on Tuesday night when Sedrack Tumusiime, a Munyoro one and a broker at Kiryatete Produce Stores, was reportedly stabbed by an Alur while in a bar.
Police in liaison with the Kiryatete East local leaders arrested two Alur suspects suspected to have stabbed Tumusiime.
Moments after the arrest, an angry Alur reportedly beat up a Munyoro which sparked off violence as a group of Banyoro came in to defend their tribe mate. Tumusiime is admitted at Kabalega Medical Center nursing abdominal wounds.
The group armed with pangas vandalized several boda boda bicycles at the Kiryatete supreme stage which is dominated by Alur.
This prompted the intervention of anti-riot police under the command of Augustine Kasangaki, Hoima district police commander.
Teargas and rubber bullets were fired in the air to disperse the crowd. At the time a URN reporter left the scene, the situation was still tense as the Banyoro and the Alur still hurled insults at each other.
Anti-riot police still took guard and business on the Hoima-Fort Portal road was still grounded to a halt.
DPC Kasangaki says the police will keep in the area until calm returns. He says the two people arrested in connection with the stabbing of Tumusiime will be charged with attempted murder once investigations are complete. The suspects’ identities were not given to journalists.
Kasangaki says the chaos ringleaders will also be identified and brought to book.
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Although police say they are still investigating the cause of the conflict, local leaders say the Alur and Banyoro in the area have always clashed over casual jobs. Peter Mayanja, the Kiryatete East LC1 chairperson, explains that the Alur always prefer to load produce trucks alone chasing away the Banyoro.
Mayanja suspects this long misunderstanding could have sparked off the chaos today.
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About 10 bicycles that were damaged in the chaos were bundled onto a police truck and taken to police as exhibit.
