Seventy guns recovered in the ongoing disarmament in Karamoja

Moroto, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The joint forces of UPDF and police currently operating in Karamoja have so far recovered 70 guns and 534 rounds of ammunition from the Karimojong warriors since the 17th of July when they launched second phase of disarmament in the sub region.

Capt. Edrin Mawanda, the UPDF 3rd division spokesperson said the operation to recover illegal guns in the region has intensified, adding that the warriors are now facing much pressure to voluntarily hand over the guns.

“There is a lot of pressure right now and the armed cattle rustlers are seeing no space for them to hide guns, so many of them are coming out voluntarily to hand over their guns to the forces,” he said.

According to Capt. Mawanda, even those who had opted to hide in the wilderness with the guns are voluntarily coming out because the forces are reaching to all their hiding places.

He noted that yesterday, the force arrested one boda boda rider in Lodiko sub county carrying an AK 47 sub machine gun with an empty magazine.

Cattle rustling in Karamoja recently intensified.

President Museveni has been in Karamoja since Friday, meeting the district leaders and members of parliament for Karamoja region to discuss a way forward on the insecurity threat.

The president left Karamoja on Sunday after meeting the security commanders.

Joel Ngorok, a resident of Moroto municipality proposed that the government needs to do both physical disarmament and psychological disarmament.

He said this would help to polish the mindset of the Karimojong.

“Collecting the guns from Karimojong and leaving them without disarming their mindset is a waste of time because the same people who hand over guns will continue rearming themselves,” said Ngorok.

Joshua Lomokol, another resident said the Karamoja situation calls for enough force to counter any plan rustlers make to raid.

“What I am seeing is the raids moving from generation to generation, which is very dangerous,” he said.

Simon Alinga, another resident said the Karamoja cattle conflict can only be addressed when government introduces compulsory education for all Karimojong children.

He noted that compulsory education will keep Karimojong children away from getting intoxicated with animal raids, and they should have no school holidays.

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