At least 118 cattle drovers have died in massacres in the past six months

In conflicts between different ethnic groups over water and pasture land at least 118 Karamojong nomads have died in the past six months, among them being many children and women. „These outbreaks of violence are fanned by the change of climate”, said Ulrich Delius, Africa expert of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Monday in Göttingen. „On account of the continuing drought individual groups of cattle drovers in the impoverished Ugandan region of Karamoja are competing with increasing violence for herds, water and pasture land, among them the heavily armed Karamojong nomads. They refuse to give up their arms because they can then no longer defend their herds. „If one takes their weapons away from them then other perspectives of survival must be given them in view of the climate change.”

Instead of developing the neglected region the government of Uganda is trying to disarm the Karamojong by force of arms. „In doing this Ugandan soldiers are committing massive violations of human rights against the semi-nomads”, said Delius. Thus in the district of Kotido alone two attacks of the army on 12th February 2007 and on 29th October 2006 75 children and 39 adults were shot, run over by tanks or trampled to death by animals. An elderly woman was raped, seven men were tortured and 166 houses plundered. On 14th November 2006 three men and a young girl were killed in the village of Kanawat when they were trying to flee from the advancing soldiers. Hundreds of Karamojong have been arrested in the past few months.

„For a time the Army took the wives of the nomads into custody to force the men to give up their weapons. „This controversial campaign of disarmament will however bring no peace, but only more violence. A whole ethnic group is being criminalised”, said Delius.

With 600,000 people the Karamojong make up about 2% of the total population of Uganda. The government ignores their problems. In no other region of the country is the expectancy of life so low, only 20% of the children go to school and infant mortality is very high.