The Kitgum District Police Commander Keith Tommy Eyaku, says that the suspects orchestrated an inter-clan clash that started last night and continued until Thursday before the police quelled the situation.
Police in Kitgum has arrested ten people for allegedly participating
in an inter-clan clash that in Labongo Akwang Sub County on Thursday.
The Kitgum District Police Commander Keith Tommy Eyaku, says that
the suspects orchestrated an inter-clan clash that started last night and
continued until Thursday before the police quelled the situation.
Eyaku also says they managed to recover over 40 heads of cattle,
20 sheep, 15 goats and unspecified bags of food stock items that include;
millet, sorghum and simsim that were reportedly looted during the revenge
attack.
It is reported that the clashes between two rival clans of Pabwoc
and Lamit followed the death of 58-year-old Patrick Okongo of the Pabwoc clan
who was reportedly assaulted by a member of the Lamit clan on Wednesday.
According to residents Okongo was in a bar at Tumangu trading
centre where he had a brief misunderstanding with the bar owner identified as
Margarete Adong, a member of the lamit clan. The deceased was returning from
the burial of Jacob Okwera Opobo, a police constable who was on Sunday knocked
by a Boda Boda motorcyclist while the deceased was enforcing curfew
restrictions at a checkpoint along Jinja road in Kampala.
It’s reported that a scuffle ensued between the two where Adong
reportedly pushed the deceased who fell on the ground hitting his head. Okongo
was rushed to Kitgum Government Hospital where he died.
The death of Okongo prompted a revenge attack destroying property.
William Komakech, the Kitgum Resident District Commissioner, urged
aggrieved parties to always seek for peaceful means while resolving conflicts
other than resorting to revenge attacks.
The suspects are currently being held at Kitgum central police
station as investigations continue.
