Lawmakers petition ICC for investigation into "genocide" by army, police

Some Ugandan lawmakers have sent a petition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) demanding an investigation into possible atrocities by security forces when they clashed with a tribal militia in 2016.

According to an official toll, 62 people were killed in November when a combined force of soldiers and police officers clashed with a tribal leader’s guards at Rwenzori region near Uganda’s Western border.

William Nzoghu, a legislator from the area and one of six members of parliament who sent the petition, said the number of people killed exceeded 200.

“The police and the army jointly committed genocide and crimes against humanity.

“We are saying let the ICC come and investigate,” he said.

The area, which has been beset by unrest in recent years, often votes for the opposition in general elections.

Critics of the 72-year-old long-standing president, Yoweri Museveni, accuse his government of deliberately stoking violence in the region as retribution for its residents’ rejection of his ruling party candidates.

In an e-mailed response, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor told Reuters it had received the petition and that it would announce a decision in “due course”.

Rights group Amnesty International said that during the clashes several people appeared to have been “summarily shot dead and their bodies dumped”.

It described the killings as extrajudicial.