Apaa land: Protesters exit palace after ritual
Locals from the disputed Apaa land camp at Acholi chiefdom palace with coffins last Thursday in protest against an order that had been issued to evict them. PHOTO | TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY
A group of protesters from the disputed Apaa land have vacated the Acholi chiefdom palace after six days of protesting a planned eviction by the government.
The contested land is shared by Amuru and Adjumani districts.
This publication has established that the three coffins that were dumped by the protesters at the palace have also been removed.
This was after rituals were performed to cleanse the palace.
Last week, residents living in the disputed Apaa land dumped three empty coffins inside the compound of the Paramount Chief of Acholi, Rwot David Onen Acana II, in protest of a looming eviction.
The protestors also petitioned Rwot Acana over the decision and challenged him to petition President Museveni, who was visiting the area, to stop the eviction plan.
The group only accepted to vacate the palace after meeting Mr Museveni, who reportedly guaranteed their safety on the contested land in a closed-door meeting held at Gulu 4th Division UPDF headquarters last Friday.
Mr George Ochan, one of the protestors, said they accepted to vacate the palace following the rescinding of the Cabinet orders to evict them from Apaa land.
Ritual
He further explained that an arrangement was made to perform a cleansing ritual at the weekend before they could withdraw coffins from the palace.
“The chiefdom administration told us that it was a bad omen to enter with a dead body or a coffin into the palace and we need to undertake a ritual,’’ he said.
Mr Wilson Acuma, one of the protesters, said some of their colleagues started to exit the palace on Saturday afternoon after the Friday meeting.
“We agreed to take some cultural procedures before taking out the coffins, a goat was slaughtered during the cleansing ceremony,” Mr Acuma said.
Mr Geoffrey Jokene, another protester, said: “When the President said he was discarding the Cabinet decision until a solution is found, we immediately felt at ease because that is all we wanted.”
Mr Ochan explained that their decision to protest at the palace was in rejection of the pronouncement by the Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja on February 15 to have them evicted.
Background
The protest happened ahead of President Museveni’s tour of the Acholi Sub-region to preach wealth creation and shared prosperity last week.
The protestors arrived at the compound of the palace on Thursday when Rwot Acana, Archbishop John Baptist Odama, and Sheikh Musa Khalil were locked up in a meeting to prepare a position to be presented to the President last Thursday while the head of state met
Acholi political, religious and cultural leaders.
Although Mr Ambrose Olaa, the chiefdom premier, termed the action of the protesters as an abomination, he later said the message was sent to the President.
On February 15, Ms Nabanja, while reading the Cabinet decision, directed the locals occupying the contested Apaa area to exit the area within three months or face forceful eviction.
