CHANGING THE LENS: WHY DISARMAMENT IN KARAMOJA IS NOT JUST ABOUT THE GUN (Part 1)

This year the Government of Kenya launched its most serious attempt at curtailing banditry. This is in line with its neighbor Uganda who is in the 3rd year of Operation Usalama Kwa Wote. While these operations have yielded some fruit in that firearms, munitions and livestock are recovered and criminals are put out of action, it has come at an enormous human cost. Videos and images of young men being tied, tortured, burnt and in some cases shot on film in an extra judicial manner leave many wondering what is the role of national security in protecting people and their property?

The governments of Uganda and Kenya have changed their language and tactics in these banditry prone regions through large scale infrastructure promises and projects such as dams, education for all, better health services and other promises of investments in these mineral rich regions.

There is a need to look at history when we ask ourselves why these regions are like this?

Just as a tree which grows in a harsh, arid environment adapts to be hard and usually thorny, the armed pastoralist communities of East Africa have also over centuries adapted to the harsh environment which they call home. They have endured cycles of drought and famine, disease outbreaks, and an intergenerational transfer of poverty, violence and bloodshed.

These communities are also categorized by high rates of poverty, illiteracy, low life expectancy, high mortality rates and limited access to clean water, sanitation, health and education.

Historical injustices which have increased today have been meted out against these communities and have led to the creation of banditry and armed cattle rustling. Bandits have terrorized their own communities, unarmed neighboring communities and international communities for decades and this leads to animosity, bitterness and hatred.

Impounded Cattle from Kacheri being transported illegally by soldiers for sale during disarmament 1(2001-2011), the community captured the the truck and offloaded their cows.

This is primarily due to 5 major causes

a. The Scramble for Africa in the 1800s and harsh colonialist policies

b. The two world wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945

c. The heavy armament of African states during the cold war

d. Instability or incapacity of post-independence govts that were not able to decisively deal with this issue

e. Cultural and spiritual issues

a. The role of the scramble for Africa in the 1800s and harsh colonialist policies

Historical injustices and policies by the British colonial authorities in parts of northern Kenya, Uganda and Southern Sudan such as force impounding of livestock (for British soldiers to eat in WW2 in Port Sudan and Port Aden), unfair policies such as (ruling certain regions as closed military districts, while the rest of the country was ruled under civilian governments)

In some regions the British perceived certain tribes as more war like and thus deliberately prevented secondary schooling in areas like Karamoja where it was illegal to go beyond Primary six ( 1924 Kitgum Conference) under the British let alone university.

The colonialists also brought harsh policies and other harsh measures of communal punishment in the event of inter-communal conflict. For example, if cows of Pokot are raided

by Turkana the British would go to the nearest Turkana village and round up their cows and demand them either find the culprits or suffer simply by tribal affiliation and this still happens in some places to this day.

The Imperial East Africa Company tried to monopolize trade and thus crippled the mushrooming economies in these far-off outposts by deliberately preventing some of these communities from ever breaking free of poverty by chasing out the Abyssinians and Zanzibaris that were trading in ivory and gold among others. The British further suppressed prices in favor of their traders.

The expulsion of the Abyssinians was due to the fact that some in Addis Ababa wanted to annex the Ateker cluster so as to monopolize the ivory trade, gold, diamonds, mercury and other precious mineral trade.

Many communities were chased off fertile lands and pushed into arid places to make space for conservancies, and controlled hunting areas for example a famous hunter called Karamoja Bell who is believed to have killed over 2000 elephants in East Africa.

The communities were thus forced to compete with one another for limited resources of water, pasture and salt licks and these are some of the conflicts that we experience up to today.

The first guns arrived around 1871 through Swahili traders and Abyssinians who were trading in ivory, when they discovered there were many elephant herds in the Ateker Cluster. Supply was low as it was harder to kill elephants with spears and traps. They decided to supply guns and bullets as well as beads and trinkets in return for Ivory.

The bullets given were valued based on the tusks returned. This meant they had to learn how to hit their target with minimal bullets and that is why many of these communities are feared for their marksmanship.

b. The role of the two world wars in which Africans participated 1914-1918 and 1938-1945

The two world wars had a role in militarizing these communities as men from these communities were seen by the British as good fighters, war like, tough and thusly they were trained, armed and deployed in the war efforts.

These soldiers that went under Kings African Rifles would come back with enhanced skills, knowledge and training on how to handle weapons and conduct raids. Due to trade and

competition for resources there was increasing demand for firearms and porous borders meant there was always a steady supply though these were old weapons.

c. The role of the cold war

During the cold war there was a renewed interest in Africa and there was heavy armament of nations, and arms diplomacy for example in the 1970s Idi Amin received a lot of aid from the Soviet Union and kept his largest supply in the Moroto Barracks thinking that incase he was attacked and lost Kampala he could reorganize and counter with supplies from a region far off. Some guns were also from disarmaments conducted under Idi Amin and Obote governments which Karimojong knew where they were being kept.

He was not able to achieve this and thus his soldiers fled and civilians overran Moroto barracks, raided the Armory and made off with thousands of guns and millions of rounds in ammunition. Around the same time the Kenyan and Ethiopian Governments decided to arm certain communities and with rebellion in South Sudan and troubles brewing in the Horn this was a dangerous recipe.

d. Instability or incapacity of post-independence govts that were not able to decisively deal with this issue

Early on after independence there were many challenges that young east African nations had to deal with and small peripheral, far-away, armed pastoralist communities were not some of them. Due to their lack of education these communities had little interest in rebellion or capturing power and thusly were not considered immediate dangers by post-independence governments.

These governments to an extent tried to reverse some of the harshest of policies and have progressively improved over the years. We are seeing more people from these communities’ graduate, we are seeing infrastructure improve and investments entering these regions such as factories in Karamoja or oil investments in Turkana, LAPPSET etc.

A challenge that remained was a lack of reasonable alternative policies to transform these communities. Most post-independence governments followed the policies of the colonialists.

e. Need for mindset change

In many cases there are cultural practices and norms which fuel banditry for example traditional witchdoctors are consulted by bandits, at a fee, for raids with prayers for their safety and instructions. If a raid is successful sometimes they gift the witchdoctor.

It is good that the Kenyan and Ugandan Governments for the first time are taking seriously the root causes of banditry and are seeing these communities not only as peripheral problems but are recognizing their vast potential in the Agriculture, Tourism and Mining value chains.