The Rwenzururu kingdom is a traditional monarchy around the mountains of Rwenzori – 340km (210 miles) west of the Kampala.
Its people – the Bakonzo – straddle both Uganda and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Tension has been high in the kingdom for in recent years.
Land disputes have led to bitter divisions over plans to divide up Kasese – one of the seven districts in the Rwenzori region.
Now the King Charles Wesley Mumbere and some of his supporters have been accused of launching a secessionist movement to create a new republic known as Yiira.
The authorities blame a recent spate of attacks on security installations in the area on this new movement.
The kingdom has denied any links to the “secessionist group”.
“We’ve never sat down as a kingdom to discuss this Yiira state,” Rwenzururu kingdom spokesman Clarence Bwambale said.
He denied that they were harbouring any militia in the palace as claimed by the army.
The weekend clashes in what is an opposition stronghold appear to have intensified following February’s general elections.
In April, President Yoweri Museveni ordered a heavy deployment of the army and police to the area to “hunt down people responsible for the violence”.
“We can’t entertain banditry and we can’t negotiate with bandits. They either come out or we shall get them out of their hide outs”, he said at the time.
The police say at least 60 people have been killed in two days of clashes, hundreds injured and many more arrested.
Graphic photographs showing dozens of dead bodies have gone viral on social media.
The Uganda Law Society has called for an inquiry to investigate the violence and propose “permanent solutions to the conflict”.
Traditional kingdoms, which are barred constitutionally from taking part in national politics were abolished in 1966, but then restored by President Museveni in the 1990s.
King Wesley Mumbere was crowned king of the Rwenzururu kingdom in 2009, after living and working in a US nursing home for many years.
