By Alexander Okori
KOTIDO: The leaders and security commanders in Kotido District have called on the armed Karamojong warriors still hiding in the jungle to embrace peace and voluntarily surrender illegal firearms or else face full force of the law.
This was during the community peace and reconciliation dialogue held under the community tamarind tree in Nasapir village, Nakwakwa parish, Maaru sub-county on Sunday.
The dialogue organised by GARD under Building Resilience in Conflict affected and Fragile Communities of Karamoja (BRICK) project brought together, elders, women, district leaders, security operatives and the reformed warriors.
Ambrose Toolit, Executive Director of GARD, the Executive Director Gard, said that the dialogue was aimed at developing strategies to address resurgence of insecurity in the area.
He said that over the past few months, Kotido district has been sliding back into insecurity due to cattle raids and attacks blamed on armed warriors still in the wilderness.
Toolit cited the recent raid of cattle from Turkana-Kenya by suspected armed Jie warriors from Maaru sub-county and the killings in Lokitelaebu and Rengen sub-counties as some of the evident cases, which have caused fear among communities.
During the dialogue, reformed warriors were given the opportunity to share their personal experiences, where they described cattle rustling as a business of life and death.
Lotimong Lokolichir one of the reformed warrior who surrender his gun recently candidly revealed the challenges of living in the wilderness for years, cut off him from his family due to pressure from security forces.
He said he could not contain the pressure anymore and that is why he had to surrender the gun to the government in order to live a peaceful life and also benefit from government programs.
Paul Lote Komol, the Kotido district LCV chairperson described Lotimong’s decision to surrender the illegal firearm to security after a series of counselling sessions as a pivotal moment of personal liberation and a big milestone towards peace restoration in the area.
He underscored the importance of the amnesty offer provided by President Yoweri Museveni and appealed to them to heed the call and return all illegal firearms to the government.
Lt Col Gaston Mugarura, Commander of the UPDF 405 Infantry Brigade at Nakapelimoru Army Barracks, challenged those still hiding in the wilderness to follow the example set by Lotimong Lokolichir among others.
He warned that development can not be achieved in a place where there is insecurity
Charles Ichogor, the RDC of Kotido directed the leaders to register those who voluntarily surrender firearms will be registered as direct beneficiaries for existing government programs and incentives.
He challenged the reformed warriors to be peace ambassadors and work closely with the security forces to fight crime in the community.
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