[allAfrica.com] [Urban_Hotels_Liberia] Violence Erupts Over Land in Nakasongola New Vision (Kampala) NEWS December 21, 2006 Posted to the web December 22, 2006 By Anne Mugisa And Milton Olupot Kampala THE land issue has taken a violent twist as residents of Nakasongola attacked Acholi living among them. The incident followed statements by some Acholi MPs that anyone grabbing Acholi land would be speared. Ramsey Owot, the director of Nakasongola Agricultural Centre, told a press conference at Parliament yesterday that he and two of his colleagues were attacked by an angry mob, who shouted that the Acholi must go. "The whole village of Sasira descended on us on December 10, shouting that the Acholi must go. They beat us unconscious. We were only saved by the LC5 chairman," said a visibly shaken Owot, displaying fresh torture marks. "We started receiving threats when the Acholi MPs threatened to fight whoever dared to go to their land." All three were admitted in hospital. One of them, Martil Label-Piny, is still recovering from deep head injuries at the Kadic Clinic in Bukoto. "I have a big bee-keeping training project there, I don't know what the future holds," Owot, who has been living in Nakasongola since 1996, added. Minister Hillary Onek blamed the Acholi MPs for stirring up violence. "There is no land in Uganda today that is under threat from the Government," the agriculture minister asserted. "The Constitution clearly states issues of land ownership. When leaders talk of spearing people over land, it is worse than Kony's war. Utterances like that are bringing suffering to innocent Ugandans. Meanwhile, lands minister Daniel Omara Atubo in a press conference yesterday revealed that he had received insulting and threatening messages from Acholi MPs, who accuse the Government of land grabbing. He singled out Aswa MP Reagan Okumu, who threatened to take the land issue to the minister's home constituency. Some of the messages he showed to journalists read: "Shame on you with propaganda headlines in The New Vision. You saw what took place in Gulu. We shall push our campaign into Otuke now." Another message said: "You cannot play with our land. Let cabinet decide on Otuke land not Acholi." Atubo accused the Acholi MPs of manipulating the land issue for political motives. He also told leaders to stop making provocative statements, calling for bloodshed, adding that such inciters should be held accountable. Leaders making such statements should be "subjected to the due process of the law and held accountable for their actions," the minister emphasised. He said he was not aware of any soldiers deployed to guard grabbed land. They were there, instead, to ensure security. He explained that obtaining land titles is a matter for districts and local people. "In accordance with the decentralisation policy, each district has a land board and land committees. Nineteen land offices will be opened in 2007 throughout Uganda to decentralise land registration and records," Atubo stressed. All applications would have to pass through a rigorous vetting to eliminate fraud. He remarked that Acholi MPs who were making sectarian statements had acquired a lot of land in Buganda. Okumu admitted having sent messages to the minister but denied they were threatening or insulting. "I only said we are going to take the war to his constituency to show that it is not an Acholi matter," he said. =============================================================================== Copyright © 2006 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ===============================================================================