Killings by Ugandan military and police during joint operations against a traditional kingdom in western Uganda should be investigated. On the bloodiest day, scores of people, including children, were killed during a military assault on the palace compound of the local traditional king.
Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 95 people, including many families of the people killed, and reviewed video and photographs of the events that unfolded November 26-27.
Police spokespeople reported the death toll over the two days as 87, including 16 police. Human Rights Watch found the actual number to be much higher – at least 55 people, including at least 14 police, killed on November 26, and more than 100, including at least 15 children, during the attack on the palace compound on November 27.
By the evening of November 26, soldiers and police had surrounded the king’s compound in Kasese. On any given day, the palace could have hundreds of people inside, royal guards as well as women, children, and young people, cooking meals, learning vocational skills, and tending to the kingdom’s animals, among other tasks. Several people told Human Rights Watch that they received calls from family members inside the compound saying that the military would not let them leave. |
