Re: [Ugnet] Uganda: Karimojong Warriors Holding 40,000 Guns

Paka KUKU NA KOJUWA. KEE..sii YELE BAGIU MUNA FORRA kama Bafullo ya Ulaya.. send Ecwero with his Arrow Brigade to contain the "karamojongs kee!!

Uganda: Karimojong Warriors Holding 40,000 Guns


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The Monitor (Kampala)

September 25, 2006
Posted to the web September 25, 2006

Jude Luggya & Emmanuel Gyezaho
Moroto/Kampala

Karimojong warriors are still in possession of up to 40,000 illegal weapons, a senior government bureaucrat has revealed.

Mr Martin Odwedo, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, last week told a cross section of donors supporting the disarmament programme, which started in 2001, that the government had so far managed to secure only 10,000 guns from the warriors.

"The exercise was not altogether a resounding success," Odwedo said. "The main reason for the limited success was the abrupt redeployment of the UPDF troops from Karamoja to northern Uganda to deal with the Lord's Resistance Army incursions," he told representatives of the Technical Donor Group at Mt. Moroto Hotel.

Odwedo told the group, represented by officials from the United Nations Development Programme, the European Union, Norwegian Embassy, Embassy of Netherlands, Unicef, Danida and SNV, that the government would not disarm the Karimojong entirely, unless the notorious cattle rustlers say they are tired of carrying guns.

"The disarmament of guns will not be enough if people's minds are not disarmed to change their perception towards the gun and cattle rustling," he said.

Mr Ken Lochap, the Moroto district chairman, took a swipe at the UPDF and told the donors that the Ugandan army used excessive force, in several cases of the disarmament exercise using the cordon and search of Karimojong villages.

"These excesses should not resurface again because the rights of many Karimojong were violated. Security and development are possible in Karamoja. However, all those concerned should ensure that the disarmed Karimojong have an alternative source of livelihood, otherwise, they will become violent again using stones," he said.

In a related development, at a weekend meeting with leaders from the Karamoja sub-region, President Yoweri Museveni urged the nomadic Karimojong to voluntarily hand over all arms in their possession and stop citing "self-defence" as an excuse for keeping illegal guns.

He wondered why the errant Karimojong warriors were using guns against people in Teso, Lango and other neighbouring districts.

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"If the guns are for self defence as you claim, why are they used in Teso, Lango and Acholi and why do you raid people who have not raided you?" he asked.

Museveni urged the local leadership to ensure that the mischievous warriors cooperate in the current disarmament exercise. He met the Karamoja leaders at State Lodge Morulinga in Moroto district, a press statement from his office said yesterday.

The President, who said he was anxious to meet cattle rustler ringleaders called Alimor, beseeched the Karimojong warriors to change their attitude and surrender their guns to the authorities to avoid wastage of resources that could be used for infrastructure development in the war-torn region.

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Re: [Ugnet] Uganda: Karimojong Warriors Holding 40,000 Guns

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