President Museveni Vows to End Security Crisis in Karamoja

President Yoweri Museveni has announced that the army is going to redeploy troops in Karamoja in order to solve the current security crisis in the area.

The soldiers will boost the several Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) detaches that have already been established along the Karamoja borderlines to curb the rampant cattle rustling in the region that has hit new heights in the last three months.

In recent weeks, MPs from the northern and eastern regions have called for a fresh disarmament process in Karamoja in order to reduce the number of guns in civilian hands. It is estimated that there are about 500 illegal guns being kept by the suspected rustlers.

The MPs have reported deaths in their constituencies, coupled with cattle rustling and intimidation of the public by warriors and criminals. But Museveni says that the insecurity in Karamoja will soon be solved.

“On the issue of Karamoja, that is an issue that had been solved but came up again when we removed some of the soldiers for training. Soldiers who were in Acholi but we’re redeploying and very soon you will hear the punishment we shall give to those people who have been disturbing our people in that area. That problem will be solved,” said Museveni

Earlier, David Muhoozi, the minister of state for Internal Affairs said that because of the para-military operational nature of the cattle rustlers, it has been difficult to curb cattle rustling in Karamoja and parts of Teso. However, he added that intelligence organizations had been tasked to identify hotspots for deployment, especially for cattle rustlers coming into Agago district from the Karamoja region.

Joint security forces comprising both the army and police reported killing up to 251 suspected cattle following the relaunch of disarmament operations in the northeastern sub-region last year. In the same period, at least 1,626 suspected rustlers were arrested, and a total of 14,898 livestock was recovered. Security forces also recovered at least 160 guns.

Meanwhile, Museveni has commended Ugandans for standing with the government in the fight against Covid-19. He said that Ugandan was able to contain a virus that put the entire world on its knees because nationals listened to advice from the governments and from scientists.

In his Easter message, Museveni sent out heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones due to Covid-19 and other natural causes in the last two challenging years.

“I want to congratulate Ugandans for standing with us in the fight against corona. Up to date, we have lost only about 3,000 people. The number would have been higher if you had not cooperated with us,” he said.

The president said that if it were not for the indiscipline of some opposition groups that sparked off the second wave immediately after the general elections, the number of those who died would have been much lower.

On terrorism, Museveni said that the government is giving them a ‘bloody nose’ and all of them will be no more soon. He saluted the Ugandan security for fighting hard to defeat terrorism.

“We have given them a hard lesson, we are pushing them hard in Congo and the operation is continuing. We are now at the third phase. We shall defeat them,” he said.