Why has Karamoja failed to disarm?
Aug 31, 2008
THE availability of firearms in Karamoja, a region in north eastern Uganda has exacerbated insecurity and more people are being killed in ambushes and livestock raids.
By Frederick Womakuyu
THE availability of firearms in Karamoja, a region in north eastern Uganda has exacerbated insecurity and more people are being killed in ambushes and livestock raids.
Despite the Government’s efforts to disarm the Karimojong, recent reports indicate that the region has more firearms than anticipated. The Government has so far recovered 25,000 guns but a recent report by Small Arms Survey; a regional body that researches on armed pastoral areas, indicates that Karamoja has more than 150,000 guns.
Only last week, two Gateway buses were waylaid along Moroto-Kotido Road and shot at by Karamoja warriors, armed with AK47 rifles. Two people, Mohammed Abdi, the conductor and an unidentified lady were murdered. Six others critically injured were rushed to Matanyi Hospital in Moroto, says Peter Ken Lochap, the LC5 chairman, Moroto district.
“Unfortunately Gateway Bus Services has since suspended operations to Kotido, creating a transport crisis,†he said. Gateway Bus Services has been the only means of public transport to Karamoja region since 1999.
In another incident on August 12, six UPDF soldiers were killed and three others critically injured when Jie warriors attacked a cattle camp at Lopei, Bokora County in Moroto and made off with more than 300 cows.
August 13 also witnessed the kidnapping of three boys at Iriiri trading centre, says John Ogwal, the LC3 chairman Iriiri sub-county, “Nine other people were shot by unknown warriors in the same week.â€
In a related incident, at least five civilians and three soldiers were killed on August 21 at Lokopo in Moroto district when Jie warriors attacked the area and made off with 56 animals.
“Most of the injured had bullet and knife wounds,†said Sam Aleper, field officer, Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS).
The URCS and World Food Programme are providing food and non-food aid to the affected communities.
Ogwal said the dwindling livestock that is the livelihood of the pastoral Karimojong is the cause of the conflict.
“We have lost many animals to drought and to attacks by the Turkana and others. As a result the youth are redundant and have resorted to gun violence for survival,†he said.
Ogwal’s comments are confirmed by a recent report by Social Mobilisation and Pacification of Small Arms in Karamoja (SMPSAK), an NGO advocating peaceful co-existence in pastoral communities in East Africa.
“These communities suffer lack of basic services, unreliable water supplies, poor leadership, depressed local economies, insufficient responses to drought, widespread poverty and extremely poor health and education conditions,†stated the report, Resolute to Fear and Insecurity: Perspectives on Armed Violence in Karamoja.
The report is based on the findings of a household survey conducted in May–June 2007 in border regions of Turkana district and Karamoja.
“Both actual and perceived levels of insecurity were significantly worse at the border between Uganda and Kenya than they were in interior areas in Karamoja,†it stated.
Peace programmes
“Due to their nomadic nature, pastoralists have to move looking for pasture and water and are often attacked when they cross into areas perceived to belong to other communities,†Peter Lokoel, a humanitarian field supervisor with Oxfam GB, an NGO, in Karamoja, said.
“They should be provided with grants to start other businesses such as jewellery making,†he added. “By so doing their sons and daughters will know that they do not need to steal livestock. If the peace aspect is strengthened, then the communities can work and live together,†he said.
Common amenities serving the two communities such as schools and hospitals should be developed to bring people together, he said. Already, some Karamoja pastoralists like Dodoth of Kaabong were grazing their cattle with the Jie Community of Kotido, something that is rare, he said.
UNICEF is providing basic education and supporting the education of the children by providing scholastic materials. “Besides disarming the people there is a need to disarm their minds by changing some of their attitudes,†said Anna Lutukei, a field officer.
In addition, there are efforts to disarm the Karimojong through different programmes. In 2001, the Government started disarming them, in a programme called Karamoja Peace-Building project, where pastoralists received 20 goats for every gun surrendered.
“The number of goats offered was almost equivalent to the money paid to buy the guns,†said Peter Lomanokei, one of the beneficiaries. A goat costs about sh30,000 and the AK47 cost between sh300,000 and sh500,000.
According to the minister of state for Karamoja affairs, Aston Kajara, said: “So far, 25,000 guns have been surrendered. Roadside ambushes and raids are rare.â€
This programme had its shortfalls in that most people didn’t surrender the arms and this resulted into UPDF forcefully disarming the residents.
“Many people had more than one gun. A person would take one and leave another,†Ogwal said.
“The Government has guaranteed the security of the residents through setting up UPDF units along roadsides, while the youth are being sensitised that cattle raids are not the only means to earn a living,†the minister said.
Recently a peace project dubbed Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Programme (KIDDP), worth sh445b was launched to empower the youth with income-generating skills.
“This is also to revamp all the sectors, to help in road construction and other aspects of social development,†he said.
Disarmament has, however, faced some challenges in neighbouring countries, with locals calling for protection before they can surrender their guns.
“Last year we suffered after surrendering more than 2,000 guns. We shall not make the same mistake,†said Daniel Legerded, a member of the Pian clan in Nakapiripirit district, one of the communities believed to possess the largest number of arms in the region.
While disarmament has been successful in countries that have emerged from civil wars, the process has been failing in pastoral areas. Many questions remain unanswered why this is the trend.
A civil war that lasted for almost a decade in Namibia, this left the population armed. Sam Nujoma’s government started a disarmament program that involved civic education, sensitisation and empowerment of the community through provision of social services like education, roads and hospitals.
Among the Turkana, where the AK47 rifle has become like a walking stick, the Kenyan government tried both voluntary and forceful disarmament but failed.
A similar programme was initiated in the pastoral community of Eastern Equatorial of the Toposa people and later the Oromo people of Ethiopia, another pastoral community but it failed.
THE availability of firearms in Karamoja, a region in north eastern Uganda has exacerbated insecurity and more people are being killed in ambushes and livestock raids.
Despite the Government’s efforts to disarm the Karimojong, recent reports indicate that the region has more firearms than anticipated. The Government has so far recovered 25,000 guns but a recent report by Small Arms Survey; a regional body that researches on armed pastoral areas, indicates that Karamoja has more than 150,000 guns.
Only last week, two Gateway buses were waylaid along Moroto-Kotido Road and shot at by Karamoja warriors, armed with AK47 rifles. Two people, Mohammed Abdi, the conductor and an unidentified lady were murdered. Six others critically injured were rushed to Matanyi Hospital in Moroto, says Peter Ken Lochap, the LC5 chairman, Moroto district.
“Unfortunately Gateway Bus Services has since suspended operations to Kotido, creating a transport crisis,†he said. Gateway Bus Services has been the only means of public transport to Karamoja region since 1999.
In another incident on August 12, six UPDF soldiers were killed and three others critically injured when Jie warriors attacked a cattle camp at Lopei, Bokora County in Moroto and made off with more than 300 cows.
August 13 also witnessed the kidnapping of three boys at Iriiri trading centre, says John Ogwal, the LC3 chairman Iriiri sub-county, “Nine other people were shot by unknown warriors in the same week.â€
In a related incident, at least five civilians and three soldiers were killed on August 21 at Lokopo in Moroto district when Jie warriors attacked the area and made off with 56 animals.
“Most of the injured had bullet and knife wounds,†said Sam Aleper, field officer, Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS).
The URCS and World Food Programme are providing food and non-food aid to the affected communities.
Ogwal said the dwindling livestock that is the livelihood of the pastoral Karimojong is the cause of the conflict.
“We have lost many animals to drought and to attacks by the Turkana and others. As a result the youth are redundant and have resorted to gun violence for survival,†he said.
Ogwal’s comments are confirmed by a recent report by Social Mobilisation and Pacification of Small Arms in Karamoja (SMPSAK), an NGO advocating peaceful co-existence in pastoral communities in East Africa.
“These communities suffer lack of basic services, unreliable water supplies, poor leadership, depressed local economies, insufficient responses to drought, widespread poverty and extremely poor health and education conditions,†stated the report, Resolute to Fear and Insecurity: Perspectives on Armed Violence in Karamoja.
The report is based on the findings of a household survey conducted in May–June 2007 in border regions of Turkana district and Karamoja.
“Both actual and perceived levels of insecurity were significantly worse at the border between Uganda and Kenya than they were in interior areas in Karamoja,†it stated.
Peace programmes
“Due to their nomadic nature, pastoralists have to move looking for pasture and water and are often attacked when they cross into areas perceived to belong to other communities,†Peter Lokoel, a humanitarian field supervisor with Oxfam GB, an NGO, in Karamoja, said.
“They should be provided with grants to start other businesses such as jewellery making,†he added. “By so doing their sons and daughters will know that they do not need to steal livestock. If the peace aspect is strengthened, then the communities can work and live together,†he said.
Common amenities serving the two communities such as schools and hospitals should be developed to bring people together, he said. Already, some Karamoja pastoralists like Dodoth of Kaabong were grazing their cattle with the Jie Community of Kotido, something that is rare, he said.
UNICEF is providing basic education and supporting the education of the children by providing scholastic materials. “Besides disarming the people there is a need to disarm their minds by changing some of their attitudes,†said Anna Lutukei, a field officer.
In addition, there are efforts to disarm the Karimojong through different programmes. In 2001, the Government started disarming them, in a programme called Karamoja Peace-Building project, where pastoralists received 20 goats for every gun surrendered.
“The number of goats offered was almost equivalent to the money paid to buy the guns,†said Peter Lomanokei, one of the beneficiaries. A goat costs about sh30,000 and the AK47 cost between sh300,000 and sh500,000.
According to the minister of state for Karamoja affairs, Aston Kajara, said: “So far, 25,000 guns have been surrendered. Roadside ambushes and raids are rare.â€
This programme had its shortfalls in that most people didn’t surrender the arms and this resulted into UPDF forcefully disarming the residents.
“Many people had more than one gun. A person would take one and leave another,†Ogwal said.
“The Government has guaranteed the security of the residents through setting up UPDF units along roadsides, while the youth are being sensitised that cattle raids are not the only means to earn a living,†the minister said.
Recently a peace project dubbed Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Programme (KIDDP), worth sh445b was launched to empower the youth with income-generating skills.
“This is also to revamp all the sectors, to help in road construction and other aspects of social development,†he said.
Disarmament has, however, faced some challenges in neighbouring countries, with locals calling for protection before they can surrender their guns.
“Last year we suffered after surrendering more than 2,000 guns. We shall not make the same mistake,†said Daniel Legerded, a member of the Pian clan in Nakapiripirit district, one of the communities believed to possess the largest number of arms in the region.
While disarmament has been successful in countries that have emerged from civil wars, the process has been failing in pastoral areas. Many questions remain unanswered why this is the trend.
A civil war that lasted for almost a decade in Namibia, this left the population armed. Sam Nujoma’s government started a disarmament program that involved civic education, sensitisation and empowerment of the community through provision of social services like education, roads and hospitals.
Among the Turkana, where the AK47 rifle has become like a walking stick, the Kenyan government tried both voluntary and forceful disarmament but failed.
A similar programme was initiated in the pastoral community of Eastern Equatorial of the Toposa people and later the Oromo people of Ethiopia, another pastoral community but it failed.