Karamoja turns into a keg of gun powder
May 18, 2003
Since the disarmament programme slowed down, there has been an escalation of insecurity in Karamoja. Raids, road ambushes and unexplained murders are now common
Warriors kill for pleasure and honour and all non-karimojong are enemies who must be killed
By David Enyaku
Since the disarmament programme slowed down, there has been an escalation of insecurity in Karamoja. Raids, road ambushes and unexplained murders are now common.
Moroto district did not celebrate labour day because a World vision official, Davis chelangat, was killed the day before in the notorious Lorengdwat sub-county on the Moroto-Nakapiripirit road, while on his way to Kapchorwa. His killers are still at large.
Three pupils of Lia primary school on the outskirts of Moroto town were also waylaid and killed by the warriors, who were in turn lynched by an irate mob. Three days before, a local administration police officer was found strangled to death in the town centre.
Prior to his death, six businessmen had also been murdered. Lying at the Moroto central police station is the wreckage of the official vehicle of the Nakapiripirit RDC. Fortunately, the RDC survived but the vehicle was burnt.
Meanwhile, Alex Lotee Amerireet lies in pain at Moroto Hospital after losing a leg in an ambush at Kaotakou on the Moroto-Kangole road. The list is long. Doctors say they now receive a minimum of two bullet wound patients every week.
“As people charged with social responsibility, we’re committed to fulfilling our obligations but the resources are stretched. One surgical operation deprives 10 other patients of normal treatment resources,†says Dr John Anguzu, the medical superintendent of Moroto Hospital.
Anguzu had just carried out an operation. He said that although the hospital had the capacity to handle the crisis, group O blood recipients take time to receive operations because the group is a universal donor and therefore their blood is on very high demand.
Travelling in the region has become very risky. Working there is absolute sacrifice, that even missionaries find difficult to offer. Death is everywhere! Almost every vehicle bears bullet holes.
Whether the occupants of these vehicles are escorted or not, the warriors will attempt to shoot at them, kill them, and loot any valuables.
“At this rate, where shall we hide? Warriors kill for pleasure and honour. Since killing is reason for pride, all outsiders, regardless of origin, race or tribe, are enemies who must be killed under any circumstances!
For every person killed, the killer earns a scar on the shoulder. If the victim is male, then that is a scar on the right shoulder and if female, then it is the left shoulder, regardless of age. The urge to earn a scar drives the warriors to lay ambush, kill school children and whoever is found in isolation. The warriors derive much satisfaction from killing! Non-Karimojong in the region keep their fingers crossed everyday because death can come any time from anywhere.
“Working for the Karimojong means signing your own death warrant. You have to be courageous, devoted and tolerant. The climate is harsh as is the the behaviour of the Karimojong themselves. There is no civilisation at all, especially in the kraals. Their culture comes first and what it tells them to do is what they do,†says Paul Okidi Obita.
Educated Karimojong are also enemies in the eyes of the gun-wielding warriors who have no religion. They are killed like everybody else along the roads. So far, the safest means into the region is by bus.
The warriors believe buses carry anybody including their relatives, so it is not wise to shoot at them.
Buses ply the route on that probability but they too need armed escorts. Other vehicles, including those belonging to the government, non-governmental organisations and the business community, are believed not to be carrying relatives and can therefore be hit.
“They call themselves men. Those who wear decent clothes and oppose the gun are called women. I don’t know why they turn their guns on ‘women’ instead of facing fellow men,†wonders Martin Aleu.
Police advises drivers of every vehicle leaving or entering the region to have escorts. but pressure from work sends drivers and officials taking the risk and travelling without escorts. Besides, there cannot be enough escorts for all the travellers in the region.
“Ask for God’s mercy and protection and avoid thinking about home or else you will panic. Keep your eyes in front, step on the accelerator and use the driving mirrors. Remember, Karamoja is a land of animals, anything can happen. You will either take the warriors unaware or they will jump off the road and shoot from behind,†says Tony Lokwang, a driver.
The UPDF is strained and not comfortable with the situation either. “Unless I have a battalion, I cannot talk. The warriors have re-armed four times more than they had before disarmament and have been well trained by LDU deserters,†says a highly placed army officer.
The army blames human rights activists for interfering with their operations and antagonising the commander-in-chief, President Yoweri Museveni.
“They plan to disarm the Karimojong for their own personal gains. Why do they want escorts when they are here, why not apply their human rights?†an army officer wondered. The situation is not a joke.
“You either lose your life or your gun or both to the warriors. We have been disarmed by the warriors while at work and what are the human rights activists saying?†the same officer complains. In 2001, President Museveni launched a disarmament programme to rid the Karimojong of thousands of illegal guns.
Only about 10,000 were received during a voluntary disarmament exercise. but during the second phase which was forceful disarmament, the army implementing the exercise was relocated to the Acholi sub-region to quell the LRA insurgency.
A military vacuum was created and those who handed in their guns to government hoping for protection were disappointed.
These people were left at the mercy of their enemy. Hard core criminals roam the region, raiding, killing and ambushing victims, with no government reaction!
The disarmed people were left with no choice but to re-arm and carry out revenge which is part of the warriors’ lifestyle, and to recover their lost property.
This has caused mayhem. It will take government more than a casual effort to disarm them now. they have vowed upon their dead bodies, never to make the same mistake again.
“After re-arming the whole of Lorengdwat, Pian county, and leaving us at their mercy, Government thinks we shall listen to its call again,†said a warrior who preferred anonymity.
They will never surrender their guns again. They blame government for denying them security, arming their enemies and neglecting its promises. They also accuse civic educators for ‘amassing wealth at their expense.’
The civil society has tried to persuade the warriors to abandon the guns peacefully, but it is like convincing a dog to leave a bone and turn to grass, a Moroto resident said.
Rumour however, has it that, the army is re-organising and preparing to pick up the disarmament exercise from where it stalled. but when this will be, remains a military secret.
The deployment of a fellow karimojong, Col. Andrew Gutti, as third division commander, seems to be the beginning of the exercise.
By David Enyaku
Since the disarmament programme slowed down, there has been an escalation of insecurity in Karamoja. Raids, road ambushes and unexplained murders are now common.
Moroto district did not celebrate labour day because a World vision official, Davis chelangat, was killed the day before in the notorious Lorengdwat sub-county on the Moroto-Nakapiripirit road, while on his way to Kapchorwa. His killers are still at large.
Three pupils of Lia primary school on the outskirts of Moroto town were also waylaid and killed by the warriors, who were in turn lynched by an irate mob. Three days before, a local administration police officer was found strangled to death in the town centre.
Prior to his death, six businessmen had also been murdered. Lying at the Moroto central police station is the wreckage of the official vehicle of the Nakapiripirit RDC. Fortunately, the RDC survived but the vehicle was burnt.
Meanwhile, Alex Lotee Amerireet lies in pain at Moroto Hospital after losing a leg in an ambush at Kaotakou on the Moroto-Kangole road. The list is long. Doctors say they now receive a minimum of two bullet wound patients every week.
“As people charged with social responsibility, we’re committed to fulfilling our obligations but the resources are stretched. One surgical operation deprives 10 other patients of normal treatment resources,†says Dr John Anguzu, the medical superintendent of Moroto Hospital.
Anguzu had just carried out an operation. He said that although the hospital had the capacity to handle the crisis, group O blood recipients take time to receive operations because the group is a universal donor and therefore their blood is on very high demand.
Travelling in the region has become very risky. Working there is absolute sacrifice, that even missionaries find difficult to offer. Death is everywhere! Almost every vehicle bears bullet holes.
Whether the occupants of these vehicles are escorted or not, the warriors will attempt to shoot at them, kill them, and loot any valuables.
“At this rate, where shall we hide? Warriors kill for pleasure and honour. Since killing is reason for pride, all outsiders, regardless of origin, race or tribe, are enemies who must be killed under any circumstances!
For every person killed, the killer earns a scar on the shoulder. If the victim is male, then that is a scar on the right shoulder and if female, then it is the left shoulder, regardless of age. The urge to earn a scar drives the warriors to lay ambush, kill school children and whoever is found in isolation. The warriors derive much satisfaction from killing! Non-Karimojong in the region keep their fingers crossed everyday because death can come any time from anywhere.
“Working for the Karimojong means signing your own death warrant. You have to be courageous, devoted and tolerant. The climate is harsh as is the the behaviour of the Karimojong themselves. There is no civilisation at all, especially in the kraals. Their culture comes first and what it tells them to do is what they do,†says Paul Okidi Obita.
Educated Karimojong are also enemies in the eyes of the gun-wielding warriors who have no religion. They are killed like everybody else along the roads. So far, the safest means into the region is by bus.
The warriors believe buses carry anybody including their relatives, so it is not wise to shoot at them.
Buses ply the route on that probability but they too need armed escorts. Other vehicles, including those belonging to the government, non-governmental organisations and the business community, are believed not to be carrying relatives and can therefore be hit.
“They call themselves men. Those who wear decent clothes and oppose the gun are called women. I don’t know why they turn their guns on ‘women’ instead of facing fellow men,†wonders Martin Aleu.
Police advises drivers of every vehicle leaving or entering the region to have escorts. but pressure from work sends drivers and officials taking the risk and travelling without escorts. Besides, there cannot be enough escorts for all the travellers in the region.
“Ask for God’s mercy and protection and avoid thinking about home or else you will panic. Keep your eyes in front, step on the accelerator and use the driving mirrors. Remember, Karamoja is a land of animals, anything can happen. You will either take the warriors unaware or they will jump off the road and shoot from behind,†says Tony Lokwang, a driver.
The UPDF is strained and not comfortable with the situation either. “Unless I have a battalion, I cannot talk. The warriors have re-armed four times more than they had before disarmament and have been well trained by LDU deserters,†says a highly placed army officer.
The army blames human rights activists for interfering with their operations and antagonising the commander-in-chief, President Yoweri Museveni.
“They plan to disarm the Karimojong for their own personal gains. Why do they want escorts when they are here, why not apply their human rights?†an army officer wondered. The situation is not a joke.
“You either lose your life or your gun or both to the warriors. We have been disarmed by the warriors while at work and what are the human rights activists saying?†the same officer complains. In 2001, President Museveni launched a disarmament programme to rid the Karimojong of thousands of illegal guns.
Only about 10,000 were received during a voluntary disarmament exercise. but during the second phase which was forceful disarmament, the army implementing the exercise was relocated to the Acholi sub-region to quell the LRA insurgency.
A military vacuum was created and those who handed in their guns to government hoping for protection were disappointed.
These people were left at the mercy of their enemy. Hard core criminals roam the region, raiding, killing and ambushing victims, with no government reaction!
The disarmed people were left with no choice but to re-arm and carry out revenge which is part of the warriors’ lifestyle, and to recover their lost property.
This has caused mayhem. It will take government more than a casual effort to disarm them now. they have vowed upon their dead bodies, never to make the same mistake again.
“After re-arming the whole of Lorengdwat, Pian county, and leaving us at their mercy, Government thinks we shall listen to its call again,†said a warrior who preferred anonymity.
They will never surrender their guns again. They blame government for denying them security, arming their enemies and neglecting its promises. They also accuse civic educators for ‘amassing wealth at their expense.’
The civil society has tried to persuade the warriors to abandon the guns peacefully, but it is like convincing a dog to leave a bone and turn to grass, a Moroto resident said.
Rumour however, has it that, the army is re-organising and preparing to pick up the disarmament exercise from where it stalled. but when this will be, remains a military secret.
The deployment of a fellow karimojong, Col. Andrew Gutti, as third division commander, seems to be the beginning of the exercise.