A fire has gutted a hut inside the Kasubi Tombs, the Police Brigade says the source of the fire is still unknown.
The Uganda Fire Brigade have extinguished the fire that caught and destroyed the much-treasured hut “Enyumba ya’balongo” at the Buganda Kingdom Tombs.
The Kasubi Tombs are the burial grounds for four Kabakas (Kings of Buganda) and other members of the Baganda royal family an important spiritual and political site for the Buganda Kingdom.
Donned in traditional architecture, the location is recognised under UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2001, when it was described as “one of the most remarkable buildings using purely vegetal materials in the entire region of sub-Saharan Africa”.
On March 17th 2010, riots erupted at venerated burial grounds in Uganda on Wednesday, and witnesses said those police officers shot and killed three protesters.
The violence was a sign of continuing troubles between the Ugandan government and members of the Buganda traditional kingdom who want more local power.
The trouble started on Tuesday night in Uganda’s capital, Kampala when a suspicious fire engulfed the Kasubi tombs, built-in 1882 and later converted into a royal burial ground for the Buganda kingdom.
Tensions exploded earlier when Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, visited the scene of the fire and protesters tried to prevent him from approaching the tombs.
The main tomb, made of wood, thatch, reed and wattle, had burned to the ground.
Supporters of the Buganda king, whose title is the kabaka, blamed arson. Some supporters accused the government of setting the fire.
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