{"id":54674,"date":"2023-08-23T09:02:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T09:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out"},"modified":"2023-08-23T11:23:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T11:23:40","slug":"reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out","title":{"rendered":"Reformed cattle raiders speak out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Mr John Turkan, a resident of Kaurikinei Village, Iriiri Sub-county, Napak District, said he bought a gun to recover cattle from Jie raiders two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery bit of our family\u2019s survival was in livestock that we lost in a night raid in 2003 by Jie warriors. As a youth, (Karachuna), the onus was on us to avenge our parents\u2019 loss. That meant that we had to engage in raids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Turkan, 40, said he had to acquire a rifle to complement bows and arrows before embarking on his plan to raid the Jie.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur parents, who had lost dozens of animals, had nothing to lose. With inquiries, I managed to acquire an AK47 gun, through a Jie proxy from the Turkana herdsmen at Shs3m,\u201d he said last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mr Turkan added: \u201cAfter getting blessings from the communal sorcerers in 2004, we ventured out as youth to the Jie land for revenge raids. But the dreadful Jie warriors repulsed us from their kraals around Napupum, in Kotido, in a fight of seven, where it was only me with a gun.<\/p>\n

He recalls that after their foiled raid, they walked back to Napak, crestfallen.<\/p>\n

But Mr Turkan said after three weeks of preparation, they staged a second raid against the Jie, in early 2005.<\/p>\n

The second attempt was prompted by their parents, who were sad and depressed after losing 90 heads of cattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this second raid, we managed to secure about 40 heads of cattle, which was fair enough to return some life and smile to our parents who needed milk and blood to take, besides the prestige that comes with having an animal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Turkan added that their successful raid earned them fame among the elders, and village mates, whose cows were raided by the Jie.<\/p>\n

He said traditionally among the Karimojong, raids were to prove maturity among the Karachunas, but also a young man intending to marry was not treated as a thief when he raided cows to handover to the family of the woman he was intending to marry.<\/p>\n

Mr Turkan added that by using the gun he acquired to avenge loss of family livestock, slowly, it became routine to carryout raids, until four years ago, when he surrenderd his gun to the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Force (UPDF).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor about 16 years, I was preoccupied with cattle raids but at the end of the day, the few animals we raided, we sold cheaply, to waste away on local brew with little regard to the pain we left behind among those we raided,\u201d Mr Turkan, now a reformed rustler, said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cBecause we feared to be found with cattle we raided, we would sell them off cheaply. By the time I surrendered, I was as poor as the time I acquired the gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Turkan said he is currently selling local alcoholic brew, with the hope that one day, he will buy cows from his savings. He sells a jug of local brew at Shs2,000 and a jerrycan at Shs25,000. On a good day , he can sell two jerrycans of local brew.<\/p>\n

Internal raids among the ethnic groupings that constitute Karamoja Sub-region (Pokot, Matheniko, Bokora, Jie, Tepeth ,Pian, Ik,Ethur,Ngimenin ) have raged on for decades, besides the same ethnic groupings staging similar raids outside the Karamoja borders.<\/p>\n

Mr Mariko Lomongin, 78, an elder in Apeitolim, Napak District, told this publication last Tuesday that because of the proliferation in arms from Kenya, Sudan and Somalia, and conflicts between the Jie, Bokora, Matheniko, Ik, Ethur, Pokot, Pian, Tepeth and Ngimenin, who are collectively referred to as Ngikarimojong, these ethnic groupings started acquiring guns besides bows and arrows to protect kraals.<\/p>\n

Mr Lomongin said: \u201cUnfortunately, after acquiring rifles to protect kraals, they have been misused to raid others, which is why the number of internal raids within Karamoja and across the borders are increasing. It is now worse because the monetary value attached to a cow is high and our Karachunas have tasted the sweet money from sale of raided cows. So raiding has almost become part of their culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cow is sold between Shs500,000 and Shs4 million, depending on its size, among other factors.<\/p>\n

Mr Paul Moru, with six wives and a resident of Iriiri Sub-county in Napak District, said for six cows, he acquired an AK47 from the Turkana herdsmen, through Matheniko proxies. He said that he surrendered the rifle to the UPDF five years ago. By the time of surrender, he had lost 74 heads of cattle despite having a rifle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, I am suffering because I deviated from the initial reason for which I had acquired the gun, as on some occasions, I hired it out for raids,\u201d Mr Moru, a father of 21, said.<\/p>\n

Mr Ben Peter Loburo, the chairperson for Iriiri Sub-county, said there are many former warriors who have surrendered guns to the UPDF and peacefully settled back into their communities. He said voluntary surrendering among the armed Karachunas has been possible through engagements held by local leaders and the army.<\/p>\n

Mr Moru, however, said there are limited government empowerment programmes for the reformed warriors.<\/p>\n

Maj Isaac Oware, the 3rd Division spokesperson, said from 2021, when the disarmament operation (Usalama kwa Wote) was launched, 957 guns, 6,922 ammunition, and 36,571 livestock have been recovered.<\/p>\n

He attributed the results to the amnesty window period provided by the President and community mobilisation efforts by all stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Mr Oware said the Karachuna have also been given incentives and given skills and knowledge for self-reliance.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Mr John Turkan, a resident of Kaurikinei Village, Iriiri Sub-county, Napak District, said he bought a gun to recover cattle from Jie raiders two decades ago. \u201cEvery bit of our family\u2019s survival was in livestock that we lost in a night raid in 2003 by Jie warriors. As a youth, (Karachuna), the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-54674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nReformed cattle raiders speak out - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mr John Turkan, a resident of Kaurikinei Village, Iriiri Sub-county, Napak District, said he bought a gun to recover cat ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reformed cattle raiders speak out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mr John Turkan, a resident of Kaurikinei Village, Iriiri Sub-county, Napak District, said he bought a gun to recover cat ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-23T09:02:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-23T11:23:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692769692.672661.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Reformed cattle raiders speak out\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-23T09:02:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-23T11:23:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\"},\"wordCount\":930,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692769692.672661.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/reformed-cattle-raiders-speak-out\",\"name\":\"Reformed cattle raiders speak out - 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