UGANDA: A protest against plans to turn rainforest into agricultural fields has left one Asian man killed and others seeking refuge from angry mobs

A mob stoned to death an Asian man in Uganda on Thursday and two other people were killed when a protest at plans to axe parts of a rainforest reserve to grow sugarcane turned violent, police and witnesses said. Troops in several armoured cars were deployed in central Kampala after police fired tear gas and live rounds to stop rioters attacking Asian businesses and a Hindu temple, angered by moves to expand an Indian-owned company's sugar plantations. "Three people have been confirmed dead," the capital's police commander, Edward Ochom, told Reuters. "One is an Asian man who was stoned to death by the rioters. The other two are Ugandans and we are still investigating their deaths." As scores of demonstrators hurled rocks at police in pouring rain, officers rescued more than 100 Asian men besieged in a Hindu temple and elsewhere and rushed them to a police station. "We were inside the temple and the protesters started attacking us from outside," 50-year-old Dipaul Patel told Reuters. "It was very frightening." One witness, Senusu Mugodansonga, said a mob stoned to death an Asian man after he crashed a motorbike into them. "The Indian was driving his motorbike and he knocked into people, so they wanted to respond," he said. Protest organiser Frank Muramuzi said the march began peacefully, before a "misunderstanding" with the police. "All of a sudden they opened fire with tear gas and live ammunition," Muramuzi said. "Everyone scattered but two people were seen lying in the road." The late former dictator Idi Amin expelled Uganda's Asians in 1972. Thousands have returned, but they are viewed with suspicion by many Ugandans who resent their domination of many businesses. Police commanders had approved Thursday's march, called to protest against plans to cut down thousands of hectares of Mabira Forest to expand the estate of local sugar company Scoul. Scoul is part of the Indian-owned Mehta Group. The controversy began last year when President Yoweri Museveni ordered a study into whether to axe 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) or nearly a third of Mabira. Mabira -- which has been a nature reserve since 1932 -- is one of Uganda's last remaining patches of natural forest. The government's proposal angered some parliamentarians and residents. They said the environmental costs of slashing the forest would far exceed the economic benefits of the plantation. Environmentalists say destroying Mabira could have grave ecological consequences, from increased soil erosion to the drying up of rivers and rainfall, and the removal of a buffer against polluting nearby Lake Victoria. They say it would also threaten monkeys and nine species found only in Mabira and surrounding forests -- the Tit Hylia bird, six butterflies, a moth and a shrub used to treat malaria. In a newspaper advert published on Thursday, Scoul said "anti-development lobby groups" were misleading Uganda's public about the company's plans for Mabira. "Scoul is very conscious of the environment and would not like to disturb the ecology," it said. The company had only asked the government for parts of Mabira that were already depleted or encroached on by locals.

ITN Source | April 13, 2007

Tags:. .tear. .drying. .domination. .protesters. .newspaper