Businessman killed in Kampala traders strike

Jan 14, 2012, 12:49 GMT

Kampala - A store-owner was beaten to death Saturday by a mob in Kampala for defying calls by a traders' union to keep shops shut as part of an ongoing strike against high bank interest rates.

The strike has been going on since Wednesday and ongoing talks with the Ugandan government have failed to resolve the matter.

Bank lending rates have shot up to around 30 per cent, from under 20 per cent in October last year, and traders say they cannot service their debt obligations under the new conditions.

The killed shop-owner, Adul Musilaamu, tried to re-open his store on Kampala's busy William Street in the early morning, but angry on-lookers stopped him and beat him to death, local police spokesman Iddi Ibin Ssenkumbi told dpa.

'They way-laid him and beat him to death. They killed him after a struggle because he was opening the padlock and they tried to stop him. We are investigating the incident,' Ssenkumbi said by telephone.

Armed anti-riot police were patrolling the capital, though no other serious cases of violence had been reported so far.

Ssenkumbi said that as the business community had yet to cancel the strike, police were taking 'precautions' to prevent an further incidents.

A meeting between the government and the Ugandan business community was still ongoing on Saturday afternoon, though officials said there no breakthroughs had been made.

President Yoweri Museveni, who was re-elected in February 2011 in elections that the opposition say were rigged, has seen his government beset with popular protests, mostly over the high cost of living.

More than 20 people were killed and scores injured in April and May 2011, when the opposition led demonstrations to protest the rising prices of commodities.