By KT Reporters
The Ateker delegates gathered in Soroti have presented a list of eight key areas of interest to their respective governments for consideration. At the top of the list is a call for the disarmament of armed communities in the Ateker clusters.
David Pulkol, an elder from Karamoja who presented the memo to President Yoweri Museveni and representatives of heads of state from Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, emphasized the need to consolidate peace and security in the region by ensuring that the respective governments collectively embark on disarming all communities possessing illegal firearms in the Ateker region.
He stated that disarmament would lay the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous future, where East African people and economies could thrive. “Your Excellency, our governments are in Somalia and DRC. It’s now time to also move our security agencies to work together to disarm all the Ateker communities in the whole of the East African region,” Pulkol said.
He added that the Ateker people share a common history marked by cyclical cattle rustling, road insecurity, and lawlessness, which have exacerbated criminality, including murder, within the communities. Additionally, conflicts over pastures, water, and livestock have left these communities in a constant state of hardship.
Before the Ateker reunion festival, a high-level sensitization meeting of Ateker leaders and border communities on peaceful co-existence was held in Moroto last month. It reiterated the need for regional disarmament of civilians to foster peaceful co-existence. The resolution emerged from the fact that gun violence and boundary disputes have strained relations, negatively impacting the peace, security, and economic growth of the Ateker communities for decades.
In a memo read on Wednesday, Pulkol stated that the Ateker reunion signifies a commitment to reclaiming human dignity and improving socio-economic conditions for sustainable peace and development, contingent on the disarmament of armed communities. The memo also implored the Ateker communities to harness the extensive potential of their natural resources to improve the quality of life for their people, emphasizing the importance of their participation in natural resource development.
“We acknowledge the need to work together with the government to promote healthy, institutional, and individual relations through improved dialogue and better communication channels towards the delivery of better social protection, better policy, quality education, healthcare, road, and communication infrastructure to promote trade and investment for sustainable livelihoods and development of Ateker communities and their neighbors,” the memo reads in part.
Beyond disarmament, the memo also highlighted the need for the construction of major bulk water retention facilities to improve access to water and transform nomadic communities into commercially productive societies. Additional concerns in the memo include the construction of the Moroto-Ethiopia road through Turkana in Kenya, as well as the development of the Kaabong-Karenga-Kapweta and Torit roads in South Sudan to facilitate regional trade and the movement of goods and services.
The memo also called for the creation of borderless communities along the international borders of member countries and the tri-junction occupied by Ateker communities. This would involve harmonizing trade policies and regulations, and establishing peaceful resource-sharing agreements, similar to the commercial economy embraced between the Masai communities of Kenya and Tanzania.
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, the former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Patron of the Ateker Communities in Africa expressed that the festival should serve to strengthen the bonds between the Ateker communities by promoting peace and unity for development.
The Ateker communities include the Nyangatom of Ethiopia, the Toposa and Jie of South Sudan, the Turkana, Masai, and Iteso of Kenya, the Masai of Tanzania, and the Karimojong, Kakwa, Lango, and Iteso of Uganda. All these communities are represented in the ongoing Ateker Reunion Festival in Soroti City, which will run until Friday, November 29, 2024 -URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
