Uganda lays 'boy king' Oyo to rest amid succession row

Uganda has concluded a nine-day period of mourning for King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

A funeral was held for the Tooro Kingdom's late monarch in the western city of Fort Portal on Saturday.

Oyo, who once held the unofficial title of the world's youngest king, ascended the throne as a young child in 1995 and died last month of cancer aged just 34, with his death prompting a bitter succession dispute.

The casket carrying the king's body, which was draped in the blue-and-yellow Tooro flag, was carried by hearse from the royal palace in Fort Portal in a procession accompanied by royal guards dressed in orange tunics and beating wooden sticks.

The ceremony in St. John's Cathedral was attended by hundreds of mourners, including senior Ugandan government officials.

After the service in the cathedral, Oyo was buried at the site of the royal tombs.

At the burial ceremony, tradition dictates that the successor should throw nine coffee berries into the grave.

"He had a gift to make people laugh," his sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, said at the burial ceremony.