Johannesburg - Arrested Rwenzururu king, Charles Wesley Mumbere, from Western Uganda, is refusing police meals, demanding that his personal chef from his kingdom prepare his food and that his personal doctor be brought in for a medical check-up.
Mumbere was arrested on Sunday after Ugandan security forces raided Mumbere's royal palace in Kasese in Western Uganda.
During the raid, fierce clashes broke out between royal guards and the security forces, leading to the death of over 60 people, including 14 Ugandan police and soldiers, and 46 royal guards, according to media reports.
The raid followed an earlier attack on a police post, allegedly by rebels associated with the royal guards, who have used bases in the Rwenzori Mountains to train and launch attacks on government facilities, Kampala alleges.
The Rwenzuru Kingdom is a region situated near the Rwenzori Mountains which border the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is also an armed historical movement fighting to achieve either autonomy or sovereignty for that region. It includes the districts of Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntoroko.
Uganda's Daily Monitor reported that Mumbere refused the police-provided meals as he spent a second night in custody in the Nalufenya police station, near Jinja, in southern Uganda. He has reportedly been incarcerated in a room previously used to hold Jamil Mukulu, the alleged leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group who was transferred to Luzira Maximum Security Prison two months ago.
After refusing the jail food, the king reportedly further demanded a medical check up by his personal physician, claiming he had been manhandled by police during his arrest.
During his two days in captivity, he has received visits from five members of parliament, including Rwenzururu Queen Agnes Nyabaghole. The parliamentarians spoke with the king for approximately half an hour.
Sunday's bloody clashes were just the latest in a series of violent confrontations which have taken place over the years in the region, despite Uganda President Yoweri Museveni officially recognising the kingdom in 2009.
African News Agency