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Moroto, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Armed Karamojong warriors have turned their weapons on cyclists despite a security peace dialogue at the Nakiloro trading centre in the Moroto district.
There has been a spate of attacks on road users and the surrounding community in Nakabaat, Nakiloro, and Kakingol among other areas in the sub-counties of Katikekile and Rupa.
The attacks came just after a series of meetings between the joint security forces and the warring communities of Tepeth and Matheniko in the Nakiloro Trading Centre. From the meetings, the two communities had resolved to put aside their differences and end the insecurity in the area.
But just a week after the last meeting, four cyclists have been killed in the same location. The latest incident occurred on Sunday when two cyclists one identified as Emmanuel Otim and another yet to be identified were killed in a road ambush.
It is alleged that the warriors were irked by a decision by the Bodaboda association to register all the cyclists operating in Moroto town. One of the cyclists, Moses Illukol suspects that the decision could have sparked anger because those who failed to register were eventually blocked from operating and accessing the town.
Charles Lobur, a Bodaboda rider said that the warriors have been calling them using the phones of their colleagues whom they have already killed. Lobur says that the warriors are threatening to kill more cyclists for denying them access to the town.
John Pau Angaar, another cyclist said that the prevailing insecurity has frustrated their businesses since warriors are even ambushing cyclists in the same areas where the forces are deployed.
Issa Kwalia, the spokesperson for the Moroto Bodaboda Association said that the registration intended to weed out wrong elements from the industry. Kwalia urged cyclists to suspend bodaboda operations outside the town until the security situation is addressed.
Joseph Otita, the LCIII chairperson of Rupa Sub County said that the security situation has worsened and fears that this may soon spread throughout the district and region if not contained. Otita blamed the security forces for downplaying the security threats.
Otita noted that the reformed warriors are more likely to re-arm themselves to protect their properties if the security forces do not address the situation urgently.
Justin Tuko, the Moroto District Deputy Resident District Commissioner noted that there has been collaboration between the Tepeth and Matheniko to lay ambushes on the roads killing people. He said that earlier, they thought it was revenge attacks but later it showed that the warriors were killing anyone they came across.
Tuko noted that security forces were deployed in the hot-spot areas prompting warriors to shift the attacks to areas with thin forces. However, he added that they have deployed on the roads where the ambushes have shifted and they are trying everything possible to arrest the criminals.
Tuko said that the Karamojong warriors have formed an alliance with the Turkana and they are re-arming themselves but equally adds that the joint security forces are reorganizing to start massive disarmament in the villages in the Sub counties of Katikekile and Rupa.
Michael Longole, the Mt Moroto Regional Police Spokesperson said that the issue started with aggravated robberies and later a chain of murders targeting our Bodaboda riders.
Longole said that they designed quick mitigation factors to deal with the threats by the deployment of static, motorized, and foot patrols in Nakiloro and surrounding areas for quick reaction in case of any incident.
‘’We would like to assure the public that, these criminals destabilizing our roads are just a handful of the Community members and they can be dealt with in a couple of hours only if we cooperate by giving security forces reliable information that may assist us to arrest these criminal gangs’’ Longole said.
He also warned the public against tempering with scenes of crime because this has rendered the utilization of canine dogs useless in all the registered murders, making it harder to arrest perpetrators.
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