Armed clashes in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda have affected primary education, creating one of the lowest school completion rates in the country, a senior official said to IRINnews.
Only 12 to 14 percent of girls who join primary school complete their education while only 19 percent of boys complete.
A recent programme by the army to disarm communities in the region recovered 4,500 guns in cordon-and-search operations between January and October. Of these, 3,267 were recovered in the past six months along with thousands of animals, including cattle and goats, looted by Karamojong warriors.
Speaking at a news conference, the state minister for defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, said the government was concerned that unrest in the region, traditionally over cattle rustling, had taken on a new dimension, posing a military threat.
– The situation is no longer cultural cattle rustling as it used to be, she said.
Nankabirwa said military casualty figures across the region in recent weeks were higher than those it had suffered elsewhere, including in battles with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army in the north.
She said warriors in the northeastern Karamoja region, which has long been the scene of interclan violence fuelled by a high proliferation of arms, were currently operating under organised formations when attacking the army.
– The enemy has changed tactics, she said. – They operate under strict command and control, and everything is organised when they kill our soldiers.
Karamoja is the least-developed region in Uganda, with a history of hostility towards authority because of the people’s way of life and the importance they attach to cattle ownership. They believe that all cattle in the world were stolen from Karamoja and are always fighting to reclaim them.
The Karamojongs have accused the government of taking away their guns, leaving them defenceless against armed neighbouring ethnic communities froms Kenya and Sudan who sporadically raid their kraals and steal their cattle.
They also accused the army of torture and rape; accusations Nankabirwa said were excuses against the operations. However, she admitted that an investigation had revealed cases of rape that had been handed over to the police for prosecution.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
