UPDF MAJOR ENCROACHES ON NATIONAL PARK
May 28, 2007
A UPDF officer at the rank of a major was among the hundreds of pastoralists evicted from Queen Elizabeth National park with over 20,000 head of cattle over the weekend.
BY JOHN THAWITE
A UPDF officer at the rank of a major was among the hundreds of pastoralists evicted from Queen Elizabeth National park with over 20,000 head of cattle over the weekend.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), backed by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) launched the eviction operation on Saturday morning. The operation in which UWA also used two planes to track the encroachers, continued yesterday.
Sam Mwanda, UWA’s field operation officer, named the UPDF officer
Major S.B. Twine among the encroachers evicted on Saturday.
The officer had reportedly established a kraal in the park where he
was keeping 150 head of cattle. He was ordered to move the animals
westwards across River Nyamugasani, according to Mwanda.
During the operation, 16 pastoralists including a woman tried to
resist eviction and were arrested and taken to the nearby Katwe
Police Station.
They were later freed after they agreed to leave the park.
The pastoralists include the Basongora who were evicted from
Virunga national park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in
March last year.
UWA estimated that about 250sq
km of the park has been occupied
by the encroachers.
Queen Elizabeth II is expected to
visit the park, which was named
after her, during the Commonwealth
Heads of Government meeting
to be hosted by Uganda in
November this year.
Mwanda said apart from causing
severe environmental degradation
in the park, nine lions, numerous
birds of prey and hyenas had died of
suspected poisoning by the
encroachers.
He added that other animals like
elephants had began fleeing the
park after being scared off by
human settlement.
Aero surveillance over the park
over the weekend revealed homesteads
and herds of animals
between Mweya to the far edge of
Kibaale National park in Kasese.
There were also numerous patches
of burnt bushes spread across the
area.
UWA executive director Moses
Mapesa expressed fear that continued
encroachment on national
parks would negatively affect the
tourism industry which earned the
country $380m (about sh652b) last
year.
“This park alone contributed 40%
of that revenue,†Mapesa said.
He said the inter-ministerial committee
appointed by President Yoweri
Museveni to handle the issue of
relocating the Basongora pastoralists
had failed to do so.
He blamed Kasese Resident District
Commissioner Wilson Isingoma
of siding with the Basongora at
the expense of the national park
and its benefits.
However, Isingoma cautioned
UWA to execute the eviction with
care, saying it should have ‘a
human face’.
Last year, the Basongora community
appealed to Museveni to degazette
part of the national park but
the President said he would not
approve it and proposed that the
pastoralists be relocated.
Parts of Mubuku prison farm,
Ibuga prison farm and Ibuga
refugee settlement were earmarked
for the relocation, which has never
been done.
Some leaders of the Basongora
community accuse certain politicians
of attempting to exterminate
them.
However, the state minister for
tourism, Serapio Rukondo, blamed
Kasese district leaders for not cooperating
with UWA and politicising
the matter.
Rukondo said the animals belonging
to pastoralists had to be moved
at least 2km away from the park
since they could spread diseases to
wild animals which cannot be vaccinated.
On Saturday, The New
Visionreported an outbreak of foot
and mouth disease in the park.
A UPDF officer at the rank of a major was among the hundreds of pastoralists evicted from Queen Elizabeth National park with over 20,000 head of cattle over the weekend.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), backed by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) launched the eviction operation on Saturday morning. The operation in which UWA also used two planes to track the encroachers, continued yesterday.
Sam Mwanda, UWA’s field operation officer, named the UPDF officer
Major S.B. Twine among the encroachers evicted on Saturday.
The officer had reportedly established a kraal in the park where he
was keeping 150 head of cattle. He was ordered to move the animals
westwards across River Nyamugasani, according to Mwanda.
During the operation, 16 pastoralists including a woman tried to
resist eviction and were arrested and taken to the nearby Katwe
Police Station.
They were later freed after they agreed to leave the park.
The pastoralists include the Basongora who were evicted from
Virunga national park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in
March last year.
UWA estimated that about 250sq
km of the park has been occupied
by the encroachers.
Queen Elizabeth II is expected to
visit the park, which was named
after her, during the Commonwealth
Heads of Government meeting
to be hosted by Uganda in
November this year.
Mwanda said apart from causing
severe environmental degradation
in the park, nine lions, numerous
birds of prey and hyenas had died of
suspected poisoning by the
encroachers.
He added that other animals like
elephants had began fleeing the
park after being scared off by
human settlement.
Aero surveillance over the park
over the weekend revealed homesteads
and herds of animals
between Mweya to the far edge of
Kibaale National park in Kasese.
There were also numerous patches
of burnt bushes spread across the
area.
UWA executive director Moses
Mapesa expressed fear that continued
encroachment on national
parks would negatively affect the
tourism industry which earned the
country $380m (about sh652b) last
year.
“This park alone contributed 40%
of that revenue,†Mapesa said.
He said the inter-ministerial committee
appointed by President Yoweri
Museveni to handle the issue of
relocating the Basongora pastoralists
had failed to do so.
He blamed Kasese Resident District
Commissioner Wilson Isingoma
of siding with the Basongora at
the expense of the national park
and its benefits.
However, Isingoma cautioned
UWA to execute the eviction with
care, saying it should have ‘a
human face’.
Last year, the Basongora community
appealed to Museveni to degazette
part of the national park but
the President said he would not
approve it and proposed that the
pastoralists be relocated.
Parts of Mubuku prison farm,
Ibuga prison farm and Ibuga
refugee settlement were earmarked
for the relocation, which has never
been done.
Some leaders of the Basongora
community accuse certain politicians
of attempting to exterminate
them.
However, the state minister for
tourism, Serapio Rukondo, blamed
Kasese district leaders for not cooperating
with UWA and politicising
the matter.
Rukondo said the animals belonging
to pastoralists had to be moved
at least 2km away from the park
since they could spread diseases to
wild animals which cannot be vaccinated.
On Saturday, The New
Visionreported an outbreak of foot
and mouth disease in the park.