By KT Reporter
Residents of the Nakapiripirit district are living in fear following the resurgence of cattle rustling by suspected armed Pokot warriors.
There have been recurring conflicts throughout the Pokot of Amudat district and the Pian of Nakapiripirit and Nabilatuk districts. This prompted the Pian to prevent the Pokot herdsmen from grazing on their lands until they resolved to share the resources after a series of peace dialogues.
However, in the last two months, the residents have complained about the deteriorating security situation, calling for urgent intervention to address the challenge. The most affected sub-counties include Kawach, Tokora, and Kakomongole, all bordering the Amudat district.
Between February to date, at least five people have been killed, and an unspecified number of cattle stolen by the armed Pokot warriors. In the last week, the same warriors attacked the Anti Stock Theft Unit police detachment and stole one gun.
Lazarus Lotuko, a resident of Achelel village in Tokora Sub County, said that the security situation is getting worse, and they are being attacked at the time.
Lotuko noted that the Pokot warriors have taken advantage of the disarmed community to loot their properties and kill them. He appealed to the Security Committees to step up their efforts to contain the situation before it got out of hand.
Luka Anyakun, another resident, blamed the attacks on the weaknesses of security on the ground to counter the Pokot warriors. Anyakun noted that security forces tend to delay taking action whenever they are informed about a possible attack.
He observed that when the forces are notified about the presence of the warriors, they instead take their own time to respond and sometimes do not even show up until the attack is carried out. Then they start disguising themselves to be tracking their footmarks.
Joy Sunta Ngiro, a resident of Tokora village, said that the insecurity has affected women so much because they are moving around bushes looking for firewood and charcoal to sell and buy food for the family.
Ngiro noted that since the insecurity escalated, they can no longer freely move in the bush and some women have been raped by the warriors.
Ngiro added that many women are now left vulnerable because there is no other economic activity that they can do to sustain their livelihoods.
She called upon the government to settle the matter of security as the rainy season approached so that they could go to their gardens and cultivate food for feeding their families.
John Bosco Lochoro, an elder, said that the Pokot are fully armed, and nothing is done about their illegal firearms. He noted that people have lost their lives and properties and the community cannot do much for protection.
He said that the local leaders have failed to bring together the two warring communities to address the conflict through peace talks.
Lochoro also noted that there is poor deployment of security forces on the ground, and it has made the situation worse. He says that they always deploy a few forces on the ground, and the warriors overpower them since they move in large numbers.
He said that the warriors have gained more strength and can even pass through the military detachment, knowing there will be no one to intercept them.
Lochoro emphasized the need for collaboration between local leaders and the security forces to protect the community from the attackers.
He urged the government to increase the deployment on the ground and the local leaders from both sides should also join hands and cooperate to end the conflict.
John Agan, the LCIII Chairperson of Tokora Sub County, said that they are bordering the Pokot, and this has exposed them to several attacks.
Agan noted that the Pokot have been attacking them since 2019 to date and have stolen at least 4000 cows and 2000 goats. He explained that Pokot always invade the gardens for grazing during dry seasons, and sometimes they enter to graze even in the people’s compounds.
He said that this has always resulted in clashes with the hosting community when they attempt to steal cows and destroy the properties.
He expressed his fears, stating that if Pokot are not flashed away, the security situation is more likely to worsen because the cultivation season is about to start, and the conflict will shift to the destruction of crops in the gardens.
Agan also blamed the security forces for delaying responding whenever they were contacted in case of an attack.
Agan noted that although the community had agreed to share the resources, the Pokot started sneaking in with guns and causing Malice.
Brig Gen Wilberforce Sserunkuma, the UPDF 3rd Division commander, said that they are concerned about the security situation in the Nakapiripirit district, and they are looking forward to addressing it.
Sserunkuma said that there are still a few illegal firearms in the hands of both the Pokot and the Pian community, which are used for raiding. He observed that, initially, the blame was on the Pokot community until they noticed that some wrong elements in the Pian were the ones who provoked the Pokot pastoralists before the security situation deteriorated.
Sserunkuma vowed to intensify the cordon and search operations, starting with Nakapiripirit to recover the remaining guns used for terrorizing the communities-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
