Modern warriors in Karamoja fight faceless, limitless and seemingly insurmountable modern enemies — and they do so without spear or gun. Instead of bringing in more rustled cattle and loot, they help give education to children and water sources to villages. With pen and keypad, they inform Uganda and the wider world about Karamoja and attempt to give balance to centuries of misunderstandings and prejudices.
They are unsung heroes who combat poverty, environmental degradation, instability, hunger, hatred, ignorance and persecution. They are the educated few and elite Karimojong who have returned to their communities to educate and to lead, knowing that they must maintain the edgy balance between cultural sensitivity and iron-willed resolve, between tradition and radical reformation.
As the Karimojong are at a crossroads in their history, the growing need for such leaders is too great to fathom. Nevertheless, there are many who have made a considerable difference given their scant resources. In Karamoja.com’s first exclusive articles, a cross-section of three Karimojong modern warriors speak about the pressing issues in Karamoja and their visions for peace, stability, sustainable development and conservation in the region.
Even though they are all Karimojong, the three come from vastly different backgrounds and disciplines, representing UNICEF, Uganda Wildlife Authority and the independent press among them. Phillips Limlim Lomma, Daniel Aleper and Sylvester Onyang could each fill up his own book with his personal stories and reflections on Karimojong culture and heritage. For now, they have been kind enough to answer a few questions and send in their dispatches from northern Uganda.
Co-author of Karamoja; Uganda’s Land of Warrior Nomads, Jeremy O’Kasick, conducted the interviews.
Daniel Aleper
Daniel Aleper has long stood at the forefront of conservation in Karamoja. For more than a decade, he has served the Uganda Wildlife Authority as a national coordinator of community conservation, an influential warden at Kidepo National Park and a coordinator of wildlife management for all of Karamoja. The 41-year-old modern warrior works at the grass-roots level, educating innumerable Karimojong about how to better graze their cattle and manage their resources. He promotes Karimojong children education and human rights in Karamoja. He also is a Ph.D. candidate at Norway’s Agricultural University of Life Sciences, studying the roles of elephants and fire in the regeneration of acacia trees in Kidepo National Park. A proud father and community leader, Aleper always feels at home and at peace in Karamoja, whether he is tracking elephants, giving children a ride to school or taking a little time to relax and bird watch.
O'Kasick: How would you describe some of the effects of environmental degradation in Karamoja and Kidepo National Park? How can the Karimojong adapt to the increasing environmental stress?
Aleper: There is devegetation and degradation of soils due to overstocking. Livestock are restricted to poor small areas leading to a reduced productivity of stock. People have had to dig wells in rivers for water and migrate from place to place, including to neighbouring districts, in search of water and pasture. The young people go for survival to other areas in Uganda. Some come back and others not, however, some of them have managed to prosper in businesses. Others use guns to ambush vehicles and to get money and other items to survive on. Crop failure causes an increase in conflict as people scramble to survive by any means. Some survive on collecting wild fruits, roots and leaves. Others resort to mining minerals. Others go poaching or exploiting natural resources products for commercial purposes because of drought: charcoal burning, sale of firewood and poles, brick baking.
Drought causes wild animals and livestock to die, causing famines and human impoverishment. Certain animal and human diseases tend to break out in certain drought areas. Drought causes migration of stock in search for pasture and water movement involves spread of disease. When it is dry, there are sometimes outbreaks of wildfires destroying habitats, people’s homes and pasture. The gun has depleted wild animal populations. With the success of disarmament, animal populations may rejuvenate. Natural resources, especially renewable sources, stand a chance to take centre stage in Karimojong livelihoods and development of the region in the form of tourism, sport hunting, wildlife enterprises, ranching, trade and tourism, craft sales. Mineral exploitation also has a big potential in contributing to the development of Karamoja.
O'Kasick: How has Karimojong traditional culture changed in the past 10 years overall according to your experience and perspective? How has it been affected by globalisation?
Aleper: The establishment of the Karamoja database has globalised the plight of Karamoja and led to attention from various donors and UN agencies, such as UNICEF, UNFAO, Save the Children, Rescue Front, ACCORD, World Vision, KADP, Madefo, Kachep, Gum Arabic Co-operative Union, Oxfam, SNV, Bozidep. Karamoja also has been exposed to the outside world through magazines, media and arts. However, there is a need to establish a think tank group in each sector to guide decisions and development, other than the traditional World Food Programme that perpetuated Karamoja famine problems. Loss of cultural practices, beliefs and norms have happened. Some youth have become disobedient to elders and parents. There is a rural-to-urban drift, and the reliance on cattle, as in the past, is lost. Other economic activities have become valued, such as charcoal burning. More Karimojong children are in school today, as education is a key success to life and a basic right for all. More people also dress in modern fabrics as compared to 10 years ago.
O'Kasick: What about recent conflicts between some Karimojong warriors and the UPDF? What will it take for these conflicts to end and for disarmament to have a long-lasting peaceful effect in the region?
Aleper: Disarmament should be sustained and applied concurrently and equally in all counties, but human rights must be observed diligently. When some people are disarmed and others are not, the disarmed people will remain vulnerable. For example, the Bokora gave back most of their guns and they eventually lost most of their stock, ending up in other districts in destitution, even begging on the streets of Kampala. When disarmament is finally accomplished, the government must institute a mechanism to protect the Karimojong people and property. If this does not happen, the Karimojong are likely to re-arm in an effort to protect them or make guns locally as they did in the late ’70s and early ’80s. But the government should not permit successful raids. Each raid or road thuggery should be followed diligently and any gun involved recovered. Only this will make people see no more use in the gun and hand them back to the government.
O'Kasick: How will regional movements towards peace and stability affect Karamoja?
Aleper: Southern Sudan and the Acholilands have been one of the sources of guns and ammunition for Karamoja. The relative peace may reduce gun trafficking into the region. Trade links would be created between Karamoja, southern Sudan and Acholilands, hence friendships would establish free movements and involve idle youth and those who have handed in their guns in alternative livelihoods.
The government listens more to the hostilities of the Acholilands and Sudan than in Karamoja. The government is committing all of its attention to the LRA war, leaving Karamoja problems of insecurity aside. Peace in the North may give the government time to concentrate on the problems of insecurity and poverty in Karamoja. The North has also served as a refuge for criminals who commit crimes in Karamoja. Attainment of peace will deprive them of this refuge, reducing criminality, hence law and order observed to some extent. The government needs to demonstrate consistent military superiority against the warriors to convince them that it can protect their property and life after all the guns have been handed back to the government. The government should consider cattle rustling as a way of livelihood and therefore devise alternate livelihoods once the guns have been handed back: opportunities with gum Arabic, mineral mining, improvements on livestock production, wildlife enterprise/tourism/sculpture/crafts.
The people will need government support in order to gain optimally from natural-resources exploitation. The developments of road infrastructure will reduce/eliminate road insecurity, together with electricity, will stimulate investment and therefore increased opportunities for employment. Also, a recruitment/training bureau should be formed to recruit and train the locals for job opportunities abroad. The Moroto Labour Office could initiate/coordinate such initiatives. The Karimojong should be motivated to go to school and to interact with other Ugandans and outsiders.
O'Kasick: Is there still a negative stigma toward the Karimojong throughout Uganda? If yes, how does this lead to a lack of development and other problems in Karamoja?
Aleper: Yes, there is. There is a belief that every Karimojong is hostile, wild and ruthless. There is a negligence to respond to Karimojong needs socially and economically, giving excuse of the gun. There is a biased attitude toward the Karimojong. Most Karimojong are not educated in formal educational settings. So few Ugandans recognise and understand Karimojong culture and its importance in Uganda society because of what the colonialists planted in the minds of other Ugandans about Karamoja has remained for a long time. It is alleged that the borders demarcated and Karamoja was considered and taken as a human zoo. The workers and outsiders that came to work in Karamoja received a Karamoja allowance to compensate for hardships and working in a hostile environment. This legacy has remained. This followed the interest of the colonial government only to come to Karamoja to benefit from ivory trade and stop the danger of the Karimojong getting armed, but no interest in developing it for the Karimojong benefit.
Postcolonial government showed a negative attitude toward the Karimojong culture — the Nawaikorot incident of 1971, where people were killed because they demonstrated against the hasty dictated forced dressing of the Karimojong with modern fabrics. Limited research has been carried out concerning the Karimojong culture and its importance so as to understand and preserve the culture. Some initiatives have been taken, such as the Miss Karamoja Pageant, Karamoja Day Out, Karamoja Cultural Trust. Even some Karimojong tend to look at aspects of their culture as a backward way of life. Very few books have ever been written about Karimojong culture, and those written do not reflect it correctly or explain it well. The security situation in Karamoja does not allow other Ugandans to get interest to come to Karamoja. It is portrayed in such a way that people receiving the information do not separate it from LRA insurgency.
People outside Karamoja lack knowledge about the region. The government should put more funding to develop Karamoja to reach the level of other parts of Uganda and to improve their knowledge of the traditional way of keeping cattle and alternative livelihoods. Such things can be changed by educating Ugandans about the good of the Karimojong and the potential of Karamoja.
