UWA clash with displaced people
Sep 28, 2009
THE former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Angisa Satellite Camp in Katakwi district clashed with officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) during the delivery of relief food on Thursday.
By Daniel Edyegu
THE former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Angisa Satellite Camp in Katakwi district clashed with officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) during the delivery of relief food on Thursday.
The drama started when the IDPs complained that UWA had delivered the maize flour without notifying them of their coming.
They also wondered why the food delivery came during the conflict over ownership of part of Pian-Upe wildlife reserve.
“Has UWA brought this flour to bribe us to forget our land in the reserve? How sure are we that this flour has not been poisoned to kill us?†queried John Okitoi.
About 415 households that lived in the camps of Toroma, Magoro, Katakwi, and Ngariam are stranded outside the wildlife reserve.
The tourism minister, Serapio Rukundo, last February directed UWA and Katakwi district officials to resettle the IDPs near the Anti-Stock Theft Unit in the parish awaiting a government resolution.
Initial efforts by the district vice-chairperson, Margaret Ikulot, to calm the residents were futile as she was booed. They claimed Ikulot had connived with UWA to grab their land.
“Go away, we did not request for your food. We are used to our suffering. Is it UWA that fed us all this long?†an elderly man yelled.
Ikulot explained that the district had submitted a report to Parliament requesting for either alternative land or gazzetting part of the reserve for them.
They later accepted the flour but vowed never to accept food because it could be used to insinuate that they had accepted to relinquish their claims over the reserve land.
THE former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Angisa Satellite Camp in Katakwi district clashed with officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) during the delivery of relief food on Thursday.
The drama started when the IDPs complained that UWA had delivered the maize flour without notifying them of their coming.
They also wondered why the food delivery came during the conflict over ownership of part of Pian-Upe wildlife reserve.
“Has UWA brought this flour to bribe us to forget our land in the reserve? How sure are we that this flour has not been poisoned to kill us?†queried John Okitoi.
About 415 households that lived in the camps of Toroma, Magoro, Katakwi, and Ngariam are stranded outside the wildlife reserve.
The tourism minister, Serapio Rukundo, last February directed UWA and Katakwi district officials to resettle the IDPs near the Anti-Stock Theft Unit in the parish awaiting a government resolution.
Initial efforts by the district vice-chairperson, Margaret Ikulot, to calm the residents were futile as she was booed. They claimed Ikulot had connived with UWA to grab their land.
“Go away, we did not request for your food. We are used to our suffering. Is it UWA that fed us all this long?†an elderly man yelled.
Ikulot explained that the district had submitted a report to Parliament requesting for either alternative land or gazzetting part of the reserve for them.
They later accepted the flour but vowed never to accept food because it could be used to insinuate that they had accepted to relinquish their claims over the reserve land.