Between 2012 and 2016, Uganda experienced a wave of violence targeting Muslim clerics and important personalities. Acts of murder, death under mysterious circumstances, verbal death threats, assassination attempts, physical acts of torture and general acrimony were widespread. The violence acquired a specific pattern that reflected its organized character. As the murders continued, leaders in the Muslim community called on the Uganda government to investigate not only the cause of this violence but to also take responsibility for the fear and insecurity which gripped the general public, Muslim or not. The public outcry from both Muslim and non-Muslim leaders influenced the government to institute a commission of inquiry to investigate the matter and publicize its findings. Before the investigations could proceed to furnish a thorough report, different government officials were on numerous occasions heard making statements that alluded to knowledge of who was killing the Muslim clerics, but were silent about the cause.

It should be noted from the outset that the Muslim community in Uganda has experienced internal leadership wrangles spanning a period of over twenty years, involving the opposing camps of Kibuli and Old Kampala (named after locations of their headquarters). These also receive allegiance from the leadership of other Muslim sub-groups throughout Uganda, especially in the urban areas. In the quest to take over the management and leadership of Muslim offices and endowments, the allies of these camps have on several occasions participated in episodes of violent brawls. The scale of planning, precision in execution and persistence of the 2012–16 violence revealed a complex dynamic hitherto unseen in Muslim leadership wrangles in Uganda. As multiple actors struggled to explain this wave of violence, competing explanations emerged.

Leading officials in the government of Uganda said on numerous occasions that the wave of murders targeting Muslim clerics and important personalities was orchestrated by a rebel movement called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The President of Uganda and the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) purveyed this explanation. From the outset, the response from government leaders seemed to provide an answer to the public’s thirst for information regarding the source of the murders and the cause.