Moroto boss hails disarmament

Sep 17, 2009

THE Moroto district LC5 vice-chairperson, Paska Napeyok, has hailed the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) for restoring peace and order in Karamoja. <br>

By Olandason Wanyama

THE Moroto district LC5 vice-chairperson, Paska Napeyok, has hailed the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) for restoring peace and order in Karamoja.

Napeyok said through the UPDF disarmament of the Karimojong warriors, violence-related deaths in the district had reduced.

“The death burden, which once hovered all over Moroto is now history as a result of the disarmament among the Karimojong,” she said.

Napeyok was on Monday speaking at the closure of the district peace committee meeting held at the district chamber hall.

The meeting involved designing the district structural and operational guidelines on conflict early warning (CEWARN) mechanisms in Karamoja.

CEWARN is a peace and security initiative under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the pastoral communities of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia.

Napeyok said Moroto was experiencing order and there was need to establish peace initiatives.

“The establishment of peace committees through CEWARN will be another milestone in the development of the district," she said

The CEWARN country co-ordinator, Joseph Muhumuza, said the establishment of peace committees would ensure timely action in case of insecurity within the region.

“Under the CEWARN initiative, IGAD had secured sh4b to oversee peace among the pastoralists,” he said.

Muhumuza said Kotido district had already received a sh20m emergency fund from the CEWARN initiative.

He said the district peace committee system would not be a parallel system but it would only strengthen the current security committees.

Muhumuza advised local governments in Karamoja to write proposals on how to bring peace in the communities.

The UPDF started the disarmament exercise in the region to combat cattle rustling and over 30,000 guns have been recovered.

Most of the recovered guns got into the hands of the warriors during the varous insurgencies in the region.

Others were bought from the war-torn Somalia by warriors from western Kenya, who sold them to the Karimojong warriors.

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