By Herbert Ssempogo

THE Inspector General of Police yesterday proposed a regional approach to ritual murders, which became rampant in the country recently.

“The Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation should try to look at the problem. We must tackle this as a region. There could be a possibility that it is organised crime,” Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura said yesterday.

Kayihura noted that trade in human parts, which is occurring worldwide, could have prompted the bizarre killings characterised by chopping off body parts.

He made the comments at the Police headquarters in Kampala where top Police officers met the organisation’s chief Workneh Gebeyehu. Gebeyehu is also the director general of the federal police of Ethiopia.

Comprising 11 countries, the organisation was formed in 1998 with the aim of stemming trans-national organised crime among member states.

Kayihura noted that ritual killings have been reported in other East African countries like Tanzania where albinos are killed for wealth.

He added that another crime that needed attention was the sale of counterfeit products.

Gebeyehu, who is in Uganda to review the implementation of the organisation’s activities, said fighting crime required concerted effort of member states.

He said the organisation had fought crimes like cattle rustling and theft of motor-vehicles.

Gebeyehu also said the Ethiopian government was committed to wiping illegal guns under similar programmes like those in Uganda and Kenya.

“In Ethiopia, the culture of possessing and distributing small arms is big. However, we have had a comprehensive plan over the past years to reduce them,” he said.

“Thousands of firearms have been destroyed in the presence of international partners in a bid to make the region safe.”