"He, Shaban Bantariza, described the raiders as a combined force of Ugandan
and Kenyan Pokots."
Let me guess the Ugandans are a part of group of some strange rebel group,
called Eastern Uganda Liberation Front!!!!
Matek
63 Killed in Clashes
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
January 13, 2003
Posted to the web January 13, 2003
Nairobi
Sixty-three people have been killed in clashes over cattle in northeast
Uganda in the past two weeks, the army and government officials said
yesterday.
The violence erupted on December 28 when raiders from the Pokot tribe killed
10 people in an attack on their Karimojong rivals and fled with 800 cattle,
Peter Lokeris, a government minister for northeast Uganda's Karamoja region,
told Reuters.
He said the attackers from the Pokot, a tribe found in both Uganda and Kenya,
had fled towards Kenya pursued by the Ugandan army, by members of a
government-backed Ugandan paramilitary force known as local defence units
(LDUs) and by Karimojong tribal warriors.
"They were ambushed by the Pokot on Tuesday (January 6) and at least 17 LDUs
and one soldier were killed," Lokeris said.
Army spokesman Shaban Bantariza said that at least 35 of the Pokot raiders
were killed when government soldiers and LDU members fought back against the
ambush. He described the raiders as a combined force of Ugandan and Kenyan
Pokots.
Scores of soldiers had been sent to the area to reinforce security since the
fighting, Bantariza added.
For years northeastern Uganda has been insecure due to bloody cattle rustling
raids by armed Karimojong amongst themselves and against neighbouring tribes
such as the Pokot, who often retaliate in kind.
The instability has been exacerbated by the large number of arms, including
automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers, held by the area's
nomadic tribesmen. The violence has seriously hampered development in
northeastern Uganda.
