Govt commits Shs39b to develop Karamoja

The government has committed Shs39 billion towards promoting economic development in Karamoja Sub-region if peace returns, the State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms Agnes Nandutu, has said.

Speaking during a peace-building meeting in Nakiloro Village, about 20 kilometres from Kenyan border in Rupa Sub-county, Moroto District last week, Ms Nandutu said the money will be used for restocking livestock and buying iron sheets.

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“We want locals to have a better shelter,” she said.

Karamoja, which has 79.1 percent of its people in dire poverty,  has more than 13 mineral deposits, including tin, gold, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, marble, limestone, graphite, gypsum, wolfram, uranium, and lithium.

Ms Nandutu also urged people in possession of firearms to surrender them.

“The people with guns should surrender them so that the region is pacified and we embark on social economic development,” Ms Nandutu said.

Ms Nandutu urged women to deny their men conjugal rights to force them to surrender the guns.

“Women have powers to persuade their men to surrender the guns to security so that peace can reign,” she said, adding that if they refuse, the army will use forceful disarmament.

Nakiloro is a stone’s throw away from where two geologists and two UPDF soldiers were killed on March 21.

The geologists, with protection of soldiers were conducting mineral mapping in the area when suspected cattle rustlers attacked.

One of the elders, who identified himself only as Ngirobul, told the minister that they know the people with guns in their localities but fear losing their lives if they pinpoint them.

“We have tried to talk to our children to stop this criminality but they don’t listen. This generation is ruthless. They can come at night and kill you if you identify them,” Mr Ngirobul said.

Local leaders accused

Mr Namoi Naboko, a youth from the neighbouring Katikekile Sub-county, told Daily Monitor that even local leaders, including village chairpersons have guns and some of them are raiders.

“They are raiders but soldiers have been arresting and beating up mostly the youth during the operations to recover illegal guns,” Mr Naboko said.

Two weeks ago, the vice chairperson of Napumpum Sub-county in Kotido District, Aped Longoli, was killed while leading a raid. Longoli was a critic of the government, blaming UPDF for failing to curb cattle raids and recovering illegal guns.

Security intelligence shows that there are about 500 illegal guns in the hands of raiders, out of which 249 have so far been recovered.

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During the first disarmament conducted between 2001 and 2010, about 40,000 illegal arms were recovered, bringing to an end the armed cattle raids until last year.

 The Moroto District  chairperson, Mr David Koryang, blamed grassroot leaders for the mess, saying they are beneficiaries of the ongoing insecurity.

“They dance to the tune of cattle thieves. They conceal information and this is why the region is in a mess,” he said.

The renewed cattle raids among ethnic groups are likely to reverse the  economic growth, which had been achieved in the past decades.

The ethnic groups include Matheniko (Moroto), Bokora (Napak), Dodoth (Kaabong), Jie (Kotido), Labwor (Abim), Pokot (Amudat), and Pian (Nakapiripirit).

Mr Koryang also apologised on behalf of Karamoja for the death of the geologists and soldiers.

“I do apologise because it was criminal and painful. Even when we went to pick guns from the Turkana community in Kenya, we were shedding tears,” he said.

Mr Mark Zupuk, a youth, however, said they borrow guns from their relatives and friends in Turkana, a neighbouring county in Kenya.

According to the local leaders, although the Turkanas are armed, they don’t raid among themselves but they use the guns to protect their cattle for the Pokots and other groups unlike the Karamojong people, who raid each other.

Mr Joseph Otita,  the LC3 chairperson of Rupa Sub-county, said UPDF was using every effort to recover the guns.

“They have aeroplanes and armoured vehicles. This is not only wastage of resources but it is also creating a lot of fear among the locals,” he said.

Mr Otita also claimed that corruption among the army officials is affecting the fight against cattle theft.

Maj Isaac Oware, the UPDF 3rd Division spokesperson, said operation ‘Usalama Kwa Wote’ loosely translated to mean ‘Peace for All’, will be intensified to rid the region of all forms of criminality.

“We are intensifying the operation to crack down on criminal elements. We want to ensure that all illegal firearms that exist are recovered and end this criminality of cattle theft,” he said.

UPDF operations in Karamoja

Last month, UPDF released a statement indicating  that they have since killed 309 warriors, recovered 184 guns, and 2,352 ammunition, arrested 1,792 warriors, prosecuted 360 of them and recovered 17, 186 livestock. The Moroto Resident District Commissioner, Mr George William Wopuwa, said by last week, they had recovered 249 guns. Mr Wopuwa said they have identified the people with the remaining guns in all districts and mobilisation to recover them is ongoing.

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“We have their names, telephone numbers and villages from where they live. We don’t want to use force because this may cause a lot of casualties,” he said.

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