Ugandan carrying child's severed head arrested outside parliament

A man carrying a parcel containing the severed head of a child has been arrested at the gate of Uganda's parliament.

Joseph Nuwashaba, 22, is being held by the country's Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

It is not yet clear what he intended to do with the parcel or where and how he acquired the head.

A CID source said that a child was reported missing in Masaka, south-west of the capital, Kampala, on Sunday.

A headless body has also been recovered in that district.

Investigators are working to find out whether it may be related to the head that Mr Nuwashaba was carrying when he was detained, reports the BBC's Patience Atuhaire in Kampala.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Uganda experienced a wave of kidnappings and killings of children. Their body parts were believed to have been used in rituals.