Africa-Press – Uganda. It will be reassuring for communities living alongside the terror of armed cattle rustling exported from Karamoja sub-region, to learn that President Museveni is now searching for a lasting solution.
In meetings with leaders from Acholi, the President has been unequivocal. It is time up for rustling. From Barlegi in Lango’s Otuke District where he had camped this week, Mr Museveni proceeds east into Karamoja to oversee the latest phase of a protracted campaign to stamp out this menace.
Every law-abiding citizen must wish him success, just as we should all hope that the recent shake-up of almost the entire senior military command in Karamoja finally returns a peace dividend.
Areas of Acholi (Agago and Kitgum districts) have lately suffered incursions by lawless brigands, which probably explains Mr Museveni’s meeting with Acholi leaders this week. Parts of Teso in Kapelebyong and Katakwi also bear scars from the marauders’ attacks. There has been unnecessary loss of human life and cattle here too. Similarly, the Sabiny in the mountains of Sebei have equally suffered.
Now, while the culture of various agro-pastoralist sub-ethnic groups in Karamoja used to be waved around as a rather suspect reason for the rustling, that pretext fell flat years ago. A culture which celebrates the ravaging of entire communities must be resisted and defeated.
For far too long, the civil strife in, and marginalisation of Karamoja, has been a stain on Uganda’s collective conscience. Successive governments have unsuccessfully grappled with the vexed question of cattle rustling and how to establish alternative livelihoods for the people in this northeastern part of Uganda. Why?
Why has Uganda allowed the insecurity and strife it has spawned through the proliferation of illegal guns in the sub-region to thrive? Why do the criminals in Karamoja, whose forebears looted a military armoury for their first major instalment of arms, mysteriously remain intractable?
Government has thrown a lot of resources at this problem (human, military and financial) with mixed results. The question is, why?
Why has the disarmament campaign first formally launched in 2001 been a ‘qualified success’? Why is it that the much more superior force deployed by at least two army infantry divisions still find the rustlers to be a difficult proposition?
Some say it may be because some of the army officers have been too long in command here. That they were no longer effective. But others fear it may be because some of them were in cahoots with the raiding bands, and were sharing in the loot. We hope not.
In the same vein, one hopes that the corruption which has undermined many initiatives designed to lift Karamoja up will no longer be tolerated now that Mr Museveni has declared for a lasting solution.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
