Teso attacks: Mukula, Ecweru seek Arrow Boys’ safe hands
Women carrying household belongings flee suspected warriors who opened fire at settlements in Kepelebyong District on Tuesday. Photo / Simon Peter Emwamu
What you need to know:
- The Arrow Boys were local vigilantes organised in Teso that complemented the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to ward off Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks.
Owing to the insecurity in Kapelebyong District, former auxiliary commanders of the Arrow Boys militia, which helped to defeat the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels from Teso Sub-region in 2004 have summoned all the militia for an urgent meeting in the district today.
The Arrow Boys were local vigilantes organised in Teso that complemented the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to ward off Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks.
On Tuesday, hundreds of locals from a number of villages bordering Karamoja Sub-region fled their areas to churches, schools and health centres as Karimojong warriors staged attacks to reiterate the killing of suspected warriors in Acinga Sub-county.
In a phone interview with the Daily Monitor on Wednesday evening, Mr Mike Mukula, who is the NRM vice chairperson for eastern Uganda, said they are in the final arrangements to meet President Museveni to bless their quest to have the former militia be used as a supplementary force to guard settlements that have suffered the wrath of the warriors.
“Yes it is true, my brother Musa Ecweru and I will be heading to Kapelebyong on Friday [today] to meet and harmonise on certain issues as we wait for communication from the President,” Mr Mukula, who served as the chairperson of the arrow militia, which was formulated in June 2003, told this newspaper.
Some political leaders in Teso have asked the government to arm their youth to fight suspected cattle rustlers.
Suspected Karimojong warriors raided Kapelebyong on Tuesday, forcing residents to flee and seek safety at a distant church.
Following the attack, Brig Joseph Balikuddembe, the commander of the UPDF 3rd Division in Moroto District, said the situation was “under control”.
The government launched a fresh disarmament operation, code-named Usalama Kwa Wote (Kiswahili word that means peace for all) in Karamoja on July 13 last year to recover guns and end the spate of violence in the sub-region and neighbouring areas.
It remains unclear whether the government would arm the former arrow boys.
Mr Mukula said once the arrangement is endorsed, the former militia will assume the role of home guards in areas where cattle raids are still being witnessed.
Mr Francis Aruo, the chairperson of Magoro Sub-county in Katakwi, said the call to arm the youth and veterans is long overdue.
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“The raids are impoverishing the districts bordering Karamoja. People are stressed and have lost trust in government,” Mr Aruo added.
Mr Francis Akorikin, the chairperson of Kapelebyong, said there are many veterans who are willing to assume the role of guarding their communities.
