Queen Elizabeth has been given a 21-day ultimatum to appear at a British court to explain why a case against Britain over alleged atrocities committed against Bunyoro Kingdom (in current Uganda) during the colonial period should not be heard and determined.
In 1893 Britain and Bunyoro kingdom fought a protracted war which lasted until 1899 leading to the murder of more than 2.4 million tribal Banyoro reducing the Kingdoms population to less than 150,000 people.
According to Mr Dovico Batwale, who is coordinating the case on behalf of Bunyoro, their London-based lawyer communicated the development to them after filing a fresh suit that seeks court to award damages to the kingdom.
Through Mr Frank Abbey Okello, a lawyer attached to Falcon Legal Consultancy firm in the United Kingdom, the group seeks ₤700 million in damages.
Batwale said Britain is responsible for the killing of Banyoro, their livestock, the looting and pillaging of minerals and other resources and laying the kingdom to waste by gazetting more than half of their prime land as forest reserves and game parks.
This was after Omukama Cwa Kabalega resisted British colonialism.
A statutory notice seeking reparation for alleged human rights abuses, loss of lives and property was served to the British Government through the British High Commission in Kampala in the municipal courts of Uganda in 2004 through Ms Ayena Odongo & Co. Advocates, by a 10-member team on behalf of the aggrieved indigenous Banyoro.
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