Thousands flee rebel tribesmen

Press, 21 October 1980, Page 8

Thousands flee rebel tribesmen

NZPA-Reuter Nairobi Thousands of people fled from their homes in western Uganda at the week-end and crowded into the small town of Fort Portal after death threats had been distributed by supporters of a small tribal movement which claims to have established the independent kingdorh of Rwenzururu.

Supporters of the movement, say the kingdom has been set up in the Ruwenzori Mountains —the Mountains of the Moon — which rise to 4900 m on the Uganda-Zaire border. The manager of Kilembe mines, Uganda’s only copper mine, in the foothills of the Ruwenzori range, told NZPA-Reuter by telephone yesterday: “Hardly anyone is left in the mine. People have been streaming away, driving cattle and goats before them, and carrying furniture and other belongings on their heads.” Mr William de Haast said he had tried unsuccessfully to assure the mine workers that the death threats were meaningless. Extra police had moved to the .mine as a precaution, he said. No incidents had occurred. The threats were directed at members of the Toro tribe, whom the Rwenzururu supporters, members of the small Bamba 'and Bakonjo tribes, accuse of enslaving them in the past. The Rwenzururu “kingdom” was declared an independent State by its supporters in 1962. Successive Ugandan Government? since then, including that of Idi Amin, who was ousted last year, failed to overcome the rebellion in inaccessible mountain areas.