Last year, a group of refugees at the settlement interested in farming were tipped of an intervention to conduct communal farming with the host community in Dzaipi Sub-county.
Mahmud Dhoka one of the protesters says that the road had turned into a death trap for the locals due to its appalling state. He says they have so far lost three people and several others got injured due to the bad state of the road.
Both NFA and UWA say that the market is located in the protected areas of Zoka Central Forest Reserve and the East Madi Wildlife Reserve and argue that it is threatening the two natural resources.
They are using power saws to indiscriminately and have extensively cut trees down from the stems regardless of their sizes or being among the endangered species which include Shea nuts, Afzelia Africana, Mvule and mahogany.
Anthony Ocaya, the Apaa Township LC II Chairperson told URN that a scuffle ensued after security rejected the demands by traders prompting residents to pelt them with stones claiming that they were segregating between the Acholis and Madi.
Adao Chol, a resident of Ayil II settlement camp in Ajumani says the refugee community in the country have very limited land allocated to them, measuring 25x30 or 30x30 meters which they can't use for large-scale agriculture. She observes that once they are trained on management of kitchen gardens, it will ensure food security.
According to Leku, due to the lack of money, many of the front liners are demoralized and not willing to work and yet the district is continuing to register community cases. He adds that, they have already exhausted the 165 million shillings given by government with most of it going in case management.
The Lamwo District LC V Chairperson, John Komakech Ogwok says the porous borders in Lamwo district stretches up to 151Km from Ogili to Agoro villages in Palabek Sub Counties.
Our reporter saw many other charcoal camps scattered across the area. The illegal dealers told URN on Wednesday that they are from Eastern and Central Uganda and are buying each tree from the residents at Shillings 8,000 to burn for charcoal.
The residents claim the area was gazetted into a game reserve while they were in Internally Displaced Camps during the rebel Lord`s Resistance Army-LRA insurgency.
