• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Batoro

The Batoro take pride in the cultural heritage of the Toro Kingdom, a scion of the ancient kingdoms of Africa's Great Lakes region. The Omukama (king) and the kingdom embody the traditional and cultural values of the Batoro.

The Toro kingdom evolved out of a breakaway segment of Bunyoro some time before the nineteenth century. Toro kingdom at the time of its formation in 1822 had diverse cultural groups, notably the Batoro, Bakonzo, Bamba and Babwisi. Though the Kingdom Constitution provided for the representation of non-Batoro in the Rukurato, many non-Batoro felt under represented and marginalized in the management of kingdom affairs.

Toro Kingdom was part of the greater Bunyoro-Kitara Empire until 1822 when Omukama Kaboyo Olimi Kasunsunkwanzi, the eldest son of Omukama Nyamutukura Kyebambe III of Bunyoro rebelled and established his own independent kingdom. In 1876, Bunyoro reconquered Toro Kingdom until Toro reasserted her independence in 1891 with the help of British colonial rulers.

The first ever recorded inter-tribal conflict which resulted in the first rebellion in the Rwenzori region and what is locally known as the Abayola revolt took place between 1919 and 1921. This conflict was between the Batoro and the Bakonzo/ Bamba tribes. This conflict led to bloodshed with the “memorable” execution of the three ring leaders (Nyamutsa, Tibamwenda and Kapolya). To date stands a monument in Kisinga sub-county in Kasese where the three were executed on 14 April 1921.

In 1967, President Apollo Milton Obote abolished all Kingdoms in Uganda throwing cultural institutions into abeyance until on July 23, 1993, when the National Resistance Council (NRC) deleted article 118 of the 1967 Constitution which had abolished kingdoms.

The Batoro (people of Toro) and Banyoro speak closely related languages, Lutoro and Lunyoro, and share many other similar cultural traits. The Batoro live on Uganda's western border, south of Lake Albert. They constitute roughly 3 percent of the population, but the Toro king (also called omukama) also claims to rule over the Bakonjo and Baamba people in the more fertile highlands above the plains of Toro.

These highlands support cultivation of coffee as well as cotton, rice, sugarcane, and cocoa. Jurisdictional disputes have erupted into violence many times during colonial and independent rule and led to the formation of the Ruwenzururu political movement that was still disrupting life in Toro in the late 1980s.

Toro is a highly centralized kingdom like Buganda but similar in stratification to Bunyoro. The omukama has numerous retainers and royal advisers. Chiefs govern at several levels below the king, and like the kabaka of Buganda, the Toro ruler can appoint favored clients to these positions of power. Clientship - often involving cattle exchange - is an important means of social advancement.

In the Ebihaiso, the praise poetry of the Batoro, power as a complex social phenomenon that is not just in the hands of one person but moving and working through all the different individuals involved in both the process of performance and the performance text. The relationship of the king and his people as presented in the Ebihaiso is controlled by the notion of negotiation of power; even though the king is a figure of authority, he needs the support of his people.