Last week was dominated by news of President Yoweri Museveni pitching camp in Eastern and Northern Uganda, to mobilise security organs to nip in the bud, the threat of re-insurgence of cattle-rustling in Karamoja Region. The President held several meetings with security organs including the UPDF, Police, Resident District Commissioners, Internal Security Organisation officers and Uganda Wildlife Authority officials over the security situation in Karamoja which has also affected the neighbouring regions of Teso, Bugisu, Sebei and a spill over in Kenya.
It is said the rustlers have changed raid tactics in a network that involves criminals with guns, bows and arrows and stick-squads that drive the cows and corroborators (spy network), wreaking havoc, killing, raping women and destroying homes and property.
President Museveni commended security forces in the region for their concept of a reaction force and intelligence-led operations to curb cattle rustling including profiling suspects.
In September 2021, the President had directed formation of kraal-based intelligence reaction forces per district backed by enablers and 24-hour reconnaissance by day and night.
The President said with the increasing level of other crimes including murder and rape, there is a need for police to establish units per sub-county to enable police to quickly deal with that.
Museveni believes this will be the lasting solution to end cattle rustling among Ugandans and across neighbouring countries and has asked security to intensify the effectiveness of hunting for guns to disarm rustlers.
“The issue of guns in Kenya and South Sudan should not concern us. The problem is internal. Because if you try to tie our internal security problem with what happens in the neighbouring countries, we shall never get peace,” Museveni said, adding that the Ugandan side of West Nile that is connected to the border of Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan and also Western Uganda have no such issues because Ugandans at those borders don’t support it.
He argued that the tribes in Kenya don’t raid each other because of the effectiveness of the police in those countries.
The President also met regional leaders from Bugisu, Sebei and Teso alongside the security apparatus before heading to Otuke in Lango region and later to Moroto in Karamoja.
Rampant cattle thefts and the increasing cases of commercialized cattle rustling in the neighbouring districts of Karamoja region have led to an increase in daily cattle markets that security agencies say must be regulated to curb crime.
While Lango and parts of Acholi have not suffered serious cattle rustling, security agencies reported increasing cases of cattle thefts within the communities neighbouring Karamoja.
The President directed agencies to cooperate and coordinate their operations with their counterparts in the neighboring districts to be more effective. The President also challenged the police to plan and use government systems including chiefs to fight crime instead of pushing for more manpower.
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda have accused each other of firing rockets across their shared border. More than 25 years after the First Congo War, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda are engaged in dispute. The neighbours have accused each other of firing rockets across their shared border, including a strike that killed two Congolese children. This seems to have been triggered by fighting between the M23 rebel group and state forces in the country’s east. Both Congo and the United Nations have accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 movement.
