ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to unravel the processes concerned and to illuminate the complexities of negotiation around the re-establishment and recognition of a neo-traditional institution like the Rwenzururu kingship, which had barely had a chance to get firmly grounded. However, to better understand the chain of events that led to these claims, it is important to put it into context, bearing in mind that, historically, kingship has often emerged as a form of institutional mimicry and emulation. In the years after 1982, the Rwenzururu struggle took two different forms. First, some secessionist Rwenzururians had continued the armed struggle, rejecting the 1982 reconciliation; and second, the restoration of a number of kingdoms by the Museveni government in the early 1990s provoked the demand for Rwenzururu's recognition as well, as the cultural institution of Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu with its Omusinga or king.
