The elders have designed a six-month plan to traverse the region, during which they will establish peace committees in each clan, rally youth to embrace peace, discourage raids, and ultimately collect and bury guns from each clan as a symbolic end to violence.
The leaders expressed concerns over the increasing cases of gun violence targeting especially the political leaders. They said that the remaining few illegal arms in the hands of warriors have started causing instability in the region, with political leaders becoming a target.
According to regional police spokesperson Mike Longole, the excessive consumption of illegally brewed alcohol, especially crude waragi, has long been a major driver of crime in the area, fueling cattle rustling, violence, and deaths related to liver complications.
The joint security forces have been implementing President Museveni’s executive order number 3, to flash out all the Turkana pastoralists grazing in the Karamoja sub-region.
cattle theft, calling for urgent intervention to address resurging insecurity before it escalates.
The team from the office of the prime minister started delivering iron sheets to the districts in south Karamoja. The districts such as Napak received 1,352 pieces, Amudat received 962, Moroto received 1066, and Nakapiripirit received 780.
The health ministry met elders drawn from all nine districts of Karamoja in the district to sensitize them on the importance of malaria vaccines and requested elders to help them rally the parents to embrace the program.
With the support from the Karamoja Women's Umbrella Organization in Partnership with the Women's International Peace Centre, a group of influential women from the districts of Moroto and Napak have been trained as peace mediators and they will be working with the district security committees.
The project was launched on Monday at Nadunget town council headquarters in Moroto district as part of the government’s effort to improve healthcare infrastructure and services in the region.
The training is part of the significant step in enhancing its capacity to combat cattle rustling in the Karamoja sub-region and its neighboring districts.
The pastoralists have for decades been burning bushes to clear spaces for rat hunting, killing ticks, and allowing fresh grass to germinate for their livestock. This has continued for over the last three months despite the ongoing community sensitization on the measures to mitigate fire outbreaks.
To date, security forces have impounded 8,487 bags of charcoal across Karamoja, which have been handed over to the National Forestry Authority (NFA) for further management. They also intercepted 8,029 jerrycans of illicit waragi and 7,900 jerrycans have been disposed of on court orders.
Charles Anyakun, the chairperson of the Karamoja Pensioners Association, recalled that the first Europeans' entry to Karamoja was in 1908 through the Napak district in the areas of Lotome and Kangole. The British, who were armed with guns, were confronted by the locals who fought them with spears.
This operation resulted in the forceful recovery of a Sub Machine Gun (SMG) with serial number P07743 BC, along with another numberless SMG, accompanied by 17 live rounds of ammunition.
A team from UBOS has been deployed across all nine districts of Karamoja to capture the details of administrative units, household heads, physical features, and institutions such as health facilities, schools, and churches among others.
Karamoja is one of the areas in Uganda with the largest mineral potential. The region has high deposits of limestone, gypsum, iron ore, wolfram, nickel, gold, copper, cobalt, lithium, gemstones, tin, marble and other rare earth elements.
They have in the past days interfaced with communities, Local Council and district leaders, security officials, human rights activities, Ministers, First Lady, Janet Museveni and others on the different challenges faced by Karamoja ranging from Health, Education, insecurity, nutrition, human rights abuse and others.
