Inside the war torn Ntontoro Sub County in Bundibugyo district

Women line up the roads carrying mattresses and the few utensils they hurriedly picked as they fled their homes. Scattered pieces of utensils and clothes left on their trail speak volumes of the haste with which they left. Some of the residents did not even know where they were headed but trudged along anyway.

The men on the other side assemble in the trading centers armed with all sorts of crude weapons ready to attack and defend. Before Wednesday last week, some of these who are majorly the Bamba and the Bakonzo used to live together as neighbors. But everything seems to have fallen apart now and they are at war with one another and each is ready to kill given the opportunity.

Between Wednesday last week and Friday this week 30 people have been killed in Bundibugyo alone many of them hacked and speared to death while some as they tried to pick guns from security officials. 366 houses had also been burnt by the attackers.

Gen Kayihura and other police officers cross a river while in Bundibugyo to asess the situation after villages were attacked

Both President Yoweri Museveni and the Inspector General of Police Gen Kale Kayihura have been to this area to help calm the situation. Following their visit and heavy security deployment in the area, normalcy seems to have returned

The motives on why the two major ethnic communities that once lived together happily and even intermarried sharing some customs and beliefs were now killing one another is still not clear.

Last week, Gen. Kayihura ruled out the conflict being ethnic fight. "It is not ethnic, the problem is elsewhere. The Bakonzo and Bamba have lived together for more than 300 years without any conflicts," Kayihura told journalists.

Kayihura said that described the fighting as organized crime and that the police had the indicators of the of the people behind. "We have information and evidence," the IGP said.

Gen Kayihura briefing offiicers on the security plans in order to fight thugs who attack villages in Bundibugyo

However one thing that stands out clear was the fact the groups orchestrating the attacks seemed well trained and armed. The hit and run groups clearly identify their targets and all they need is less than 2 minutes to attack, kill and set the properties on fire. Security and victims of the attack say the groups are numbered between 4 and the biggest so far had over 40 members.

On Thursday last week a team of journalists majorly from Kampala travelled to Bundibugyo district to cover the ongoing skirmishes. On the outskirts of the town it was clear there was anarchy as we met hordes of people fleeing the villages.

In areas like Bubukwanga refugee camps over 2000 people had already been registered at the camp having fled their villages because of the conflict. But even within the camps, there was tension as the 2 ethnic communities had to be kept apart by security for fear that they would attack one another.

Residents of Bukisi Village bundibugyo armed with arrows ready to defend themselves from the attackers

By the time the Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura landed in the Bundibugyo town on Thursday at midday, the mood was already tense but the local seemed happy by his presence as it signaled Government concern.

Members mainly of the Bakonzo and Bamba assembled at the playground ready to air out their grievances. Kayihura waved at them to calm them down as he first went for a meeting with the local and district, security and humanitarian officials. The mood outside the police station remained tense and soon the impatient men who had stood outside waiting to be addressed started shouting for attention.

It took the intervention of the army and police to calms them down. The IGP finished his meeting at 2; 30 p.m. and straight a way we headed to the most affected areas which was the Ntororo Sub County in Bughendera County. Accompanying the team was its Member Of Parliament Christopher Kibanzanga.

Most homes and the villages in this area had been deserted. You could clearly see that the occupants of some of them had hurriedly packed as they fled. Clothes and household utensil scattered the compounds and some of the house doors remained open giving an indication that the occupants had not even had time to lock them up.

Smoke spews from a burnt house set on fire by attackers in Kiremya Village, Bundibugyo district

Our first stop over was at the Bukisi trading center mainly dominated by the Bamba tribe. The men here were armed to their teeth with all sorts of crude weapons, some spears, some bows and arrows, pangas ready to strike. Many moved to the IGP's motorcade ready to listen to him but were infuriated when they saw their Member of Parliament Christopher Kibanzanga who represents the Bughendera County among those who had accompanied the IGP.

They insisted they would not let him speak accusing him of being the key architect of the war. Kibanzanga is a brother to the Omusinga wa Rwenzururu Charles Wesley Omumbere. Some officials of the kingdom have been linked to the skirmishes. The MP had to be whisked to the car.

 The area LC 1 Chairman Clovis Nsiabo told the New Vision that they had lived together well as neighbors but ever since the fresh conflict broke up on Wednesday last week, the Bakonzo had fled the area. "The Bamba here accuse their neighbors of being spies and providing intelligence to those who attacked them that Wednesday night," Nsiabo told the New Vision.

Speaking to the residents, Gen Kayihura warned them against carrying out revenge attacks against in contrast to their neighbor especially the Bakonzo. He urged the residents to go back to their homes since the police had deployed in the area.

Policemen led by RPC Denis Namuwoza and others carry a man who was attacked and his house burnt on Kiremya Villange Bundibugyo District

"This country has generally been peaceful. We fought off the Allied Democratic Forces and the Lords Resistance Army and defeated them and peace returned. Its only here that we are having problems," Kayihura reminded the residents.

Kayihura then proceeded to check on the homes that had been attacked the previous night. Most of the homes were abandoned while some were still on fire. Pieces of broken furniture littered the compound of some of the homes that had been attacked. The local leaders of the area showed the IGP the path the attackers had taken. "They came attacked us and later fled to the mountains," one of the residents told Kayihura.

The bushy paths led to the mountains and were surrounded by heavy vegetation. There was a clear footpath indicating not long ago a group had used the same path. As we moved back to the convoy we came across a house that seemed to have just been set on fire. This sent fear among the journalists. Had someone set this fire after we had left the scene? Were we being watched?  Most of the homes were surrounded by cocoa plantations creating obscurity and you could not rule out the fact that someone was watching over you as you moved.

Security sources also told the New Vision that some of the suspects who were attacking hid in the plantations.

Kayihura later proceeded to Ntambi trading center. It is here that majority of the Bakonzo had camped. Kibanzanga was allowed to address them.   At Ntambi Kayihura told the residents to channel their local issues to the area leaders so that they can be addressed instead of taking the law into their hands.

Shortly after we had left Ntambi and gone to another center, we received information that somebody had been attacked and killed not far from where we had been.

In the other villages Kayihura visited, he instructed the police to immediately set up a police post to help coordinate and diffuse the tension in the area. But one thing that remained common as we went through the villages was women and children carrying mattresses fleeing their homes.

We proceeded to Vanilla hotel in Bundibugyo where Kayihura met the local leaders together with the security officials. He later proceeded to meet the Bamba king that same evening.

RPC Denis Namuwoza together with other people help a man who was attacked in Bundibugyo

At Bundibugyo New Vision interviewed the local leaders who gave us their views about the conflict. Some of the elders in both Bundibugyo and Kasese that we spoke believe that the current conflict in Bundibugyo is politically motivated.

One of the elders speaking on condition of anonymity in Bundibugyo, for fear of persecution, told the New Vision that there was politics in current ethnic conflict and that there were traditional, political, religious leaders, "in the area who wanted to develop a political clout by mobilizing clashes in the area".

The area MP Kibanzanga admitted that the current fights were being sponsored by cultural leaders, political and some business personnel in the region who he said wanted to take advantage of the situation to regain their political or extend their muscles.

Kibanzanga said that the current tension were as a result of simmering tensions that had been brought about by envy that had turned out into hatred.

Kibanzanga says that the creation of Rwenzururu and Bamba cultural institutions had further escalated the relationship between the 2 tribes that once lived harmoniously in Bundibugyo.

A man carries his belongings after his home was attacked in Bundibugyo district

The New Vision has also learnt that most of the politicians who supported the creation of the Bamba Kingdom and supported the installation of Martin Ayongi Kamya in 2014 lost in the February Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Areas like Bughendera which majorly had Bakonzo voters voted as a block against candidates considered moderates and in support of the Bamba kingdom, resulting in the loss of the Woman MP Harriet Ntabazi, LCV Chairman Jolly Tibamanya.  "This was 3 year anger," Isaac Mugabi Masunzu a local elder in Bundibugyo told the New Vision.

The media also is blamed for helping fuel the conflict. Last week a tabloid reported that the local Bamba king had been arrested. Masunzu said that those copies of the news article were photocopied and sent around. "The youth were actually being fed on lies that the king was arrested infuriating them hence this fights," Masunzu said.

Another elder in Bundibugyo told the New Vision that the conflict in Kasese and Bundibugyo could be linked to the discovery of natural resources in the region.

Rwenzori region is being earmarked for oil and gas as exploration already going on in Ntoroko District and more studies being carried out in the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese District.

Kibanzanga urged the local leaders to urgently engage each other.  Last year both kings met in Mubende in a meeting that was chaired by Defence Minister Chrispus Kiyonga and they agreed to that each side forms a 7 member committee. However little came out of the engagements.

The New Vision has also learnt that divorces had now become common since the tensions broke out and that couples who had intermarried were now breaking away.