One killed in Arua land row

May 16, 2007

Tension rose in Arua town on Tuesday as gunfire erupted at a prime plot of land that was being contested for by an Asian and a local businessman.

By Frank Mugabi

Tension rose in Arua town on Tuesday as gunfire erupted at a prime plot of land that was being contested for by an Asian and a local businessman.

Police and private guards exchanged fire, killing one person on the spot after agents of Omar Atiku, a local entrepreneur, started razing structures on the disputed plot 1D on Transport Road after the Arua Chief Magistrate, Joseph Omodo Nyanga, ruled that Atiku was the rightful owner of the land.

The northwestern regional Police commander, Bazil Mugisa, said they shot after some people tried to loot the evictee’s property from an Internet cafe he was running on the plot.

The district Police commander, Julius Salube, identified the deceased only as Acema, a bodaboda cyclist. Mugisa said they arrested Jackson Andebaku, an Alpha Guard and his colleague in relation to the killing.

Reddy Mahosh, the director of Enjoy Uganda Ltd, sued Atiku together with the Arua Municipal Council and the District Land Board accusing them of grabbing his land. He said as the sitting tenant, he paid the council sh4.5m for five years as part of the process to acquire the land.

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