Human remains in Ugandan embassy

The box of ashes was found in a cardboard box in the basement

Human remains have been discovered in the basement of the Ugandan High Commission in London, a Ugandan parliamentary committee has revealed.

Lt Saleh Kamba, MP, told the BBC that the ashes of Luke Kitono had been in the basement for 38 years.

He said former embassy staff were being contacted to solve the mystery.

The discovery was made during a visit by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee to London to assess Ugandan government properties in the city.

"To our surprise we found the remains of one Ugandan called Luke Kitono who died at the age of 36 in 1969," Lt Kamba said following the committee's week-long trip.

"We are really concerned and we're trying to find out how the body ended up in the basement of the high commission for all that long," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

The Uganda High Commission has told the BBC the wood box containing the ashes, which still remains in the basement, bears Mr Kitono's name and date of death.

It is thought the deceased's next of kin could not be traced. Lt Kamba nevertheless thought it was odd that the box of ashes had never been mentioned over the years.

"We're trying to contact all the high commissioners who have been there and all the administrators and all the other staff that were there during that period," he said.