Ugandan MPs Oppose Presidents Plan To Raze Forest

Eighty percent of Uganda\'s parliamentarians, most from President Yoweri Museveni\'s own party, oppose his plan.

Eighty percent of Uganda's parliamentarians, most from President Yoweri Museveni's own party, oppose his plan to convert a chunk of rainforest to sugarcane, the state-owned New Vision daily said on Saturday.

A survey of 200 out of 332 parliamentarians showed four-fifths were against the controversial plan to raze 7,100 hectares (17,540 acres) of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, and give the land to the privately owned Mehta Group's sugar estate, the newspaper said.

Analysts say Museveni has rarely faced such opposition over policy in the history of his two-decade presidency.

"Even members of the majority National Resistance Movement (Musveni's party) were solidly against the proposal, with 72 percent saying they would vote No," the New Vision reported.

Last week, a protest against the plan in Kampala turned violent. At least three people were killed, including a young ethnic Indian man who was stoned to death by rioters.

Mehta is owned by a Ugandan family of Indian descent.

Four opposition parliamentarians have since been arrested for anti-Mabira protests -- two were charged with rioting.

Critics say razing part of Mabira could destroy a fragile environment, sparking soil erosion and silting, drying up the climate, hurting nearby agriculture and removing a crucial buffer against pollution of Lake Victoria.

Museveni says Uganda needs to balance the need to protect ecosystems with the need to industrialise a poor country and find jobs for a growing population of mostly peasant farmers.

Normally a staunchly pro-government paper, the New Vision has repeatedly come out against the Mabira plan -- leaking sensitive cabinet documents on it and publishing fiery columns condemning it, many written my Museveni's closest aides.

"(It is) against the majority wishes and passions of his electorate," close Museveni advisor John Nagenda wrote on Saturday. "Would you even consider feeding this irreplaceable Ugandan treasure to the insatiable stomach (of Mehta)?"

Cabinet will vote on the proposal in the coming weeks.