Ugandan Minister Moses Kizige issues shoot-to-kill order against Turkana and Pokot rustlers

Museveni’s minister issues shoot-to-kill order against these Kenyans

Tony Mukere

February 11, 2019 3:52 PM

"We shall now start killing them"

Ugandan Minister Moses Kizige issues shoot-to-kill order against Turkana and Pokot rustlers

The Ugandan government has issued a shoot-to-kill order against Kenyan pastoralists who will cross its border while armed.

The order was issued by the country’s Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Moses Kizige while speaking in Northern Uganda.

Kizige complained that while the Ugandan government had disarmed the Karamajong warriors, the communities living in Kenya and South Sudan were using their guns to carry out raids against the unarmed Ugandans.

He said the only way out was for the Ugandan army to kill any rustlers who cross into Uganda.

“The government didn’t disarm the Karamojong to allow armed pastoralists from neighbouring countries to disturb them. We shall now start killing them to save the lives of our harmless people in Karamoja,” Kizige stated.

Ugandan Minister Moses Kizige issues shoot-to-kill order against Turkana and Pokot rustlers Pulse Live Kenya

Grazing Fields

The communities living on the two sides of the border have had long-standing conflict over grazing fields.

In 2001, the Turkana stopped grazing their cattle in eastern and north-eastern Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni gave an order requiring the communities to hand over their guns over to the Ugandan government.

The pastoralist communities, including the Karamojong and the Pokot had been grazing their land across the borders since the pre-colonial period.

Similar conflict of resources in the Lake Victoria islands have recently tested the diplomatic relations that exists between Kenya and Uganda.

Tony Mukere