Hundreds face eviction from Adjumani reserve

Over 180 households, majority of them from Amuru and Adjumani districts who have unlawfully encroached on the East Madi Wildlife Reserve are set for forceful eviction before the planting season in March, officials from Uganda Wildlife Authority have said.

The warden in-charge of East Madi Wildlife Reserve, Mr Julius Obwona, on Wednesday said the area is now duly gazetted as a wildlife reserve. “We are now mandated to protect, arrest and prosecute people who will enter in the wildlife reserve without permission since the place is meant for the conservation of wildlife,” Mr Obwona said.

How they settled
During the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in 2006, authorities in Amuru set up an internally displaced people’s camp in the reserve. But after peace prevailed, some residents refused to return home because of the fertility of the reserve.

Hundreds of farmers from Amuru and Adjumani districts have since built grass-thatched houses in the reserve and have turned the place a food basket to the two districts through farming.

Recently, UWA evicted 99 households in the reserve but the exercise was halted by the State Minister for Wildlife Tourism and Heritage, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, claiming that he first wanted to carry out a fact-finding mission and also allow the farmers to harvest what they have planted in the reserve.

Selective eviction
Some residents from Adjumani have accused UWA officials for what they termed as discriminatory eviction, which allegations the warden in-charge has denied.

Mr Dominic Harambe, the Ukusijoni Sub-county chairman, where the wildlife reserve is situated, said if UWA is failing to manage the pride of the region, they should return it to the locals instead of creating tribal conflicts which will one time turn bloody.

“Let them carry out the eviction exercise transparently or else we shall give them an ultimatum of three days to forcefully close their offices in the sub-county”

The residents tabled their fears during a meeting organised by the Third Deputy Prime minister, Gen. Moses Ali, to discuss peaceful ways of settling the border dispute between Adjumani and Amuru districts. Gen. Ali is East Moyo MP, a constituency in Adjumani.