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Bringing an end to cattle rustling and the movement of illegal guns across borders will be the key issues for discussion ahead of the first-ever International Ateker meeting in Uganda.

The event is also expected to address the socio-economic wellness of the Ateker communities as efforts are being made to facilitate the harmonious coexistence among pastoralist communities of East Africa and ensure that peace prevails in the region.

Andrew Ocole, the Teso Cultural Union's prime minister, who is organizing the event, made the revelation while addressing journalists at the City Royal Hotel in Kampala on Saturday, September 13, 2024.

He said the festival will take place in Soroti City between November 27 and 29, 2024, and is expected to be graced by delegations from over five countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Andrew Ocole, the prime minister of the Teso Cultural Union (Second from left) said an invite has been sent to Ethiopia Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy to grace the Ateker reunion in Soroti city. (Photo by John Masaba)

Speaking during the media briefing that was also attended by the institution's officials, including the deputy minister for finance and Investment, Grace Atebat, the minister of institutional development, Grace Ikirimat and its foreign affairs minister, Davidson Elyau, Ocole said the annual event has in the previous two years, been organized by Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Ateker festival brings together a group of Nilotics ethnic communities currently living in the countries but is believed to have had a common origin, the Horn of Africa region of the current day Ethiopia and Djibouti.

"We are trying to see that we sort out the issue of insecurity in our communities. If you have followed the biggest insecurity is within those regions. That is where all the guns are," Ocole said.

"Governments have tried, and we appreciate it, but we also want to use our networks and internal engagements as people of the same community to see how we can help ourselves put those guns down and live peacefully as communities because we are also pastoralists. The problem has been that we continue raiding from among ourselves. "

He explained that, for example, cattle raided from Karamoja have sometimes ended up in South Sudan and some as far as Ethiopia.

He said they feel well placed to lead the campaign against the vice of rustling because they are the only Ateker community that does not participate in rustling.

"We want to sit down as one community to see how we can end this and forge mechanisms on how we can scale down and eventually halt the issue of raiding within our communities, " he said.

He said they have invited Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy as well as President Towers Museveni to preside over the event.

He said the event would be preceded by the coronation of the Emormor (cultural leader of Teso) Papa Paul Sande Emolot Etomeileng on October 22, 2024, at Katakwi Boma Grounds in Katakwi district.

"This year, we saw it wise, and after consulting with our elders in Ethiopia, and getting their blessings, that the event be held in Soroti," he said.

He said some of the groups expected to grace the occasion include the Nyangatomo of southern Ethiopia, the Toposa of South Sudan, and the Bari and Torit of South Sudan.

Others include Iteso, Turkana, Masai, and Turkana of Kenya and Tanzania. Also expected to attend are the Kakwa, Jie, Dodoth, Kumam, and Langi from Uganda and Akaramajong representatives.

Ateker communities speak distinct languages which developed from one common language.

While similar, the Ateker languages vary due to the regions they occupied and the communities around them, having borrowed some of their words from the assimilated minorities or neighbouring people.