Women sing lullaby to return rustlers to peace

Some of the guns which were confiscated by the army are set ablaze in Kotido at the weekend (Photo / Steven Ariong)

Women in Karamoja Sub-region under their umbrella association, Women Peace Forum, are using songs and dialogue to mobilise communities against cattle rustling.

The group said many women have lost their husbands in the cattle raids.

 They added that through their work, they were able to recover guns from the rustlers in the communities.

In an interview with Daily Monitor at the weekend, Ms Cementina Lochoro, the vice chairperson of the group, which is made up of about 30 women, said they move in sub-counties spreading the message of peace through songs and also holding sensitisation meetings.

“This is a local intervention and we are hopeful that it will work. We want peace because it is only with peace that we will see development,” Ms Lochoro said.

Ms Dina Nayor, a member of the group from Siigila Sub-county in Moroto District, said: “We are happy that the elders are supporting us and like the messages of peace we carry in our songs. We no longer want insecurity.”

During a peace building meeting with locals in Moroto District last week, the State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms Agnes Nandutu, urged women to deny men conjugal rights to force them to surrender guns to the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).

Ms Nandutu said if they refuse to surrender the guns, the army will use forceful disarmament.

 The minister added that the locals should engage in agriculture to enable economic development in the sub-region.

 “The government has put aside Shs100 million for each parish, every year under the Parish Development Model. They should abandon the gun, take the hoe and embark on agriculture,” she said.

The Moroto Resident District Commissioner, Mr George William Wopuwa, said by last week, they had recovered 240 out of the 500 guns estimated to be in Karamoja.

Last month, UPDF released a statement indicating that they have killed 309 warriors, recovered 184 guns, and 2,352 ammunition, arrested 1,792 warriors, prosecuted 360 of them and recovered 17, 186 livestock.

The Moroto District Chairperson, Mr David Koryang, said: “We leaders, we need to make a change because Karamoja is not normal. We are killing ourselves. This needs to stop so that peace can prevail.”

Maj Isaac Oware, the UPDF 3rd Division spokesperson, said operation Usalama Kwa Wote which means peace for all, will be intensified to rid the region of criminality.

“We want to ensure that all illegal firearms that exist are recovered and end this criminality of cattle theft,” he said.

Call for inter-state cooperation

The mayor of Kotido Town, has called upon the government to work with neighbouring countries, Kenya and South Sudan, to stop the proliferation of illegal guns in Karamoja sub-region.

Speaking during the burning of illegal guns recovered from Karimojong warriors in Kotido District on Saturday,  Mr Peter Abrahams Irar, said most of the guns used to rustle cattle in the sub-region are procured from Kenya and South Sudan.

Mr Irar said the government should step up efforts to stop cross-border cattle rustling conducted by armed Kenyans and South Sudanese.

“What we are doing now is treating symptoms,  not treating the real  disease and that disease is the neighbouring  countries where people are armed and crossing into Karamoja,”  he said.

Mr Irar urged the government to pressure governments of the neighbouring countries to disarm their citizens who illegally possess guns.

He also urged  security agencies to provide more protection for residents, saying some locals procure guns to protect their cattle from rustlers and they are now vulnerable after handing over their guns to the security agencies.

Speaking at the same function were  378 guns  were destroyed, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Geofrey Katsigazi Tumusime, urged the Karimojong to embrace the disarmament exercise.

He said the illegal  guns in Karamoja are not only affecting Karamoja but also areas as far as Kampala. “One thing  very clear is that women in Karamoja are widows, they have lost their husbands due to cattle rustling, please let’s stop it,” he said. The Kotido District chairperson, Mr joseph Komol,  said Karamoja leaders are committed to rid the sub-region of illegal guns.

“Peace in Karamoja is peace in Teso, Acholi,Lango,Bugisu and Acholi,”he said.