Have Arrow boys outlived their use?
Apr 18, 2004
Eerie singing howls through volatile Teso villages. It is the local civilian militia, the Arrow Group jogging around chanting old patriotic war songs.
By David Enyaku
Eerie singing howls through volatile Teso villages. It is the local civilian militia, the Arrow Group jogging around chanting old patriotic war songs.
Victory long fallen on their side. It is about six months since they routed out the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in their region. Locals are once again picking up garden tools and catching up with rains.
But military training here is just beginning. Army drills are countless among the militia.
A typical day starts with morning physical fitness. It then dissolves into theoretical military warfare lectures. Lengthy practicals, including shooting range, commonly called the bull’s eye, wind down the day.
“Iteso will never be taken by surprise again. Forewarned better armed. Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) is a salary earner.
Whether they fight or not their salary comes. For you who is affected, you must run an extra mile,†says the group’s chief coordinator Musa Ecweru.
Morale and the urge for territorial defence here is immeasurable.
War has subsided, vigorous streamlining is at its highest. Those who cannot cope are dropped.
“We’re re-sharpening arrows to meet future eventualities.
We therefore train them to kill an enemy. Each time we give a doctrine, we give it in line with the situation on the ground,†says Lt. Justine Eilor, Commanding Officer 3rd Battalion Asamauk.
The argument here is, impoverished society depopulated by wars and denied intellectual muscle is doomed into willing slaves in the eyes of democracy.
“Iteso are not exactly lazy as one may think. Development has never been possible. Livelihood here is cow but every time we try to raise one, Karimojong come for it. This is an opportunity to deal with the two decisively,†says Eilor with enthusiasm.
In 2001, President Yoweri Museveni launched the Karamoja disarmament programme but midway, LRA activities overshadowed it. Success in Teso against LRA was return to the drawing board for Museveni. He resolved the militia retain their guns until the pacification of Karamoja was over.
The LRA has vowed to revenge its defeat in the region when the rains start. Rains have begun and grass is growing fast. Tension is building.
Once a rag-tag bunch of peasants, now it is a model army whose legacy has traversed borders.
Neighbouring Langi and Acholi have picked a leaf. Reports of tribes south of Sudan applying the same doctrine are making the rounds.
It has become fashionable to associate with the force. A speech without mention of Arrow group in the region is no speech. Presidential term limit talk here is absent.
The beginning was not easy for the militia. People looked at them as spent hunters confronting heavily armed LRA with clubs, spears, stone bolus, bows and arrows.
Gulu archbishop John Baptist Odama called the group a suicidal force while the Uganda People’s Congress Dr. James Rwanyarare vowed to take court action against its commanders.
Fear is rife that arming civilians is mere shortcut to genocide. But the Arrow Group must have found an everlasting space inside Museveni’s heart.
Talk along state house corridors is that Iteso have done in six months what has taken Acholi region 18 years.
After Abia and Barlonyo massacres, the group could not move to Lango as many had appealed. Museveni was quick to remind the nation that these are territorial forces that thrive on communities they protect.
His argument was that the force has no logistical support beyond their feet. Besides, he added, where army food ratios delay, the fighters get supplements from home.
At the heart of this debate is Lt. Col. Silver M. Kayemba, the newly appointed UPDF 3rd Division Commander and Arrow Group overall seer. I asked him if he was blind to groom a snake that would strike at him at the end of the day.
“Government cannot keep on dishing out driving licences without beefing up traffic police on the roads. Indiscipline is part of society even in church it is there. We have means of checking that out.
Under the NRM government, security concerns are everyone’s obligation. So if you answer them, you are fulfiling the call,†he asserted.
Arrow Group, Kayemba elaborated, is not UPDF. “When no more work is there for them, they will be demobilised in the right direction. The leadership are simple mobilisers who help the UPDF a lot because of the local language.â€
Eerie singing howls through volatile Teso villages. It is the local civilian militia, the Arrow Group jogging around chanting old patriotic war songs.
Victory long fallen on their side. It is about six months since they routed out the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in their region. Locals are once again picking up garden tools and catching up with rains.
But military training here is just beginning. Army drills are countless among the militia.
A typical day starts with morning physical fitness. It then dissolves into theoretical military warfare lectures. Lengthy practicals, including shooting range, commonly called the bull’s eye, wind down the day.
“Iteso will never be taken by surprise again. Forewarned better armed. Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) is a salary earner.
Whether they fight or not their salary comes. For you who is affected, you must run an extra mile,†says the group’s chief coordinator Musa Ecweru.
Morale and the urge for territorial defence here is immeasurable.
War has subsided, vigorous streamlining is at its highest. Those who cannot cope are dropped.
“We’re re-sharpening arrows to meet future eventualities.
We therefore train them to kill an enemy. Each time we give a doctrine, we give it in line with the situation on the ground,†says Lt. Justine Eilor, Commanding Officer 3rd Battalion Asamauk.
The argument here is, impoverished society depopulated by wars and denied intellectual muscle is doomed into willing slaves in the eyes of democracy.
“Iteso are not exactly lazy as one may think. Development has never been possible. Livelihood here is cow but every time we try to raise one, Karimojong come for it. This is an opportunity to deal with the two decisively,†says Eilor with enthusiasm.
In 2001, President Yoweri Museveni launched the Karamoja disarmament programme but midway, LRA activities overshadowed it. Success in Teso against LRA was return to the drawing board for Museveni. He resolved the militia retain their guns until the pacification of Karamoja was over.
The LRA has vowed to revenge its defeat in the region when the rains start. Rains have begun and grass is growing fast. Tension is building.
Once a rag-tag bunch of peasants, now it is a model army whose legacy has traversed borders.
Neighbouring Langi and Acholi have picked a leaf. Reports of tribes south of Sudan applying the same doctrine are making the rounds.
It has become fashionable to associate with the force. A speech without mention of Arrow group in the region is no speech. Presidential term limit talk here is absent.
The beginning was not easy for the militia. People looked at them as spent hunters confronting heavily armed LRA with clubs, spears, stone bolus, bows and arrows.
Gulu archbishop John Baptist Odama called the group a suicidal force while the Uganda People’s Congress Dr. James Rwanyarare vowed to take court action against its commanders.
Fear is rife that arming civilians is mere shortcut to genocide. But the Arrow Group must have found an everlasting space inside Museveni’s heart.
Talk along state house corridors is that Iteso have done in six months what has taken Acholi region 18 years.
After Abia and Barlonyo massacres, the group could not move to Lango as many had appealed. Museveni was quick to remind the nation that these are territorial forces that thrive on communities they protect.
His argument was that the force has no logistical support beyond their feet. Besides, he added, where army food ratios delay, the fighters get supplements from home.
At the heart of this debate is Lt. Col. Silver M. Kayemba, the newly appointed UPDF 3rd Division Commander and Arrow Group overall seer. I asked him if he was blind to groom a snake that would strike at him at the end of the day.
“Government cannot keep on dishing out driving licences without beefing up traffic police on the roads. Indiscipline is part of society even in church it is there. We have means of checking that out.
Under the NRM government, security concerns are everyone’s obligation. So if you answer them, you are fulfiling the call,†he asserted.
Arrow Group, Kayemba elaborated, is not UPDF. “When no more work is there for them, they will be demobilised in the right direction. The leadership are simple mobilisers who help the UPDF a lot because of the local language.â€