UGANDA'S KARAMOJA REGION: THE FINAL FRONTIER FOR SECURITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 000288 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT PASS TO USAID AND OFDA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON MASS PREL SENV PGOV PHUM KDEM UG SUBJECT: UGANDA'S KARAMOJA REGION: THE FINAL FRONTIER FOR SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT (PART I) REF: KAMPALA 0523 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A first-of-its-kind USG inter-agency delegation visiting Uganda's northeast Karamoja region in February found unrelenting drought, desperate poverty, and wrenching economic and cultural change. Karamojong leaders and civil society representatives acknowledged that they must move away from a tradition of cattle herding and raiding to a new way of life that requires education and more sedentary forms of agro-pastoralism. Nonetheless, the security situation in Karamoja has improved due to the firm hand of the Ugandan military. Aside from the military's disarmament campaign and growing social service activities, the Ugandan Government remains largely absent from Karamoja. Sustained security and development investment in Karamoja are needed to ensure Uganda's long-term stability. The U.S. Mission is moving forward with a series of activities and programs to help bring badly-needed resources to the region as the security environment permits. End summary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BACKGROUND: MISSION DELEGATION VISITS KARAMOJA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) The DCM led an inter-agency delegation February 16-21 to the Karamoja sub-region located in northeastern Uganda. The team included the Deputy USAID Mission Director, CJTF-HOA Officer-in-Charge, CJTF-HOA Alpha Civil-Military Affairs Team Leader, the RSO, the USAID Peace and Security Team Leader, and PolOff. Former parliamentarian and Minister of State for Education David Pulkol, who is an ethnic Karamojong, accompanied the delegation. The U.S. Mission team visited four of the five northeastern Ugandan districts that comprise the Karamoja region, to include Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido, and Kaabong. In each district, U.S. officials met with local and central government officials, discussed disarmament and human rights with military and civil society representatives, and listened to security and development concerns of people living in remote villages. - - - - - - - - - - - - KARAMOJA IN STATISTICS - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (U) The semi-arid/arid Karamoja region abuts northwestern Kenya and southeastern Sudan and is home to nine ethnic groups that comprise the estimated 1.1 million Karamojong. The region's harsh terrain and infrequent rainfall has resulted over the centuries in an agro-pastoral lifestyle that combines seasonal cultivation with herding. However, a long history of armed violence associated with cattle raiding, climatic changes, restrictions on movement into neighboring countries and districts, population growth, and central government neglect have left the Karamojong of today extremely marginalized. The Karamojong are the poorest of Uganda's poor. Cultural mistrust of education compounded with the need of families for children to work has further hampered development. ¶4. (SBU) The UN estimates that only 9% of Karamojong have access to sanitation and 30% to safe water. An estimated 82% of the population lives below the poverty line, with a Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate of 9.5%. The region has a literacy rate of 11%, compared to 67% nationwide, an infant mortality rate of 105 per 1,000 live births, and an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 3.9%. Life expectancy is 47.7 years. The World Food Program (WFP) feeds over 90% of the region's inhabitants, and expects the figure to hit nearly 100% this year. Karamoja's human and development indicators are decades behind the rest of Uganda and paint a bleak socioeconomic picture. In part as a result, the Karamojong's traditional agro-pastoralist lifestyle has come under intense scrutiny and wider debate as to its long-term viability. On one side of the argument stands the Government of Uganda (GOU) through its primary actor in Karamoja, the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF). The GOU is pursuing a policy to promote voluntary re-settlement in coordination with local officials and some in civil society. In contrast, Oxfam and other NGOs argue that agro-pastoralism can continue to be a viable livelihood, given the right set of interventions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SECURITY IMPROVING, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) Chronic insecurity due to cattle raiding and small arms KAMPALA 00000288 002 OF 003 trafficking between Karamoja and southern Sudan and Kenya, has long impeded development. Meanwhile, the dramatically improved security situation in LRA-affected northern Uganda is threatened by Karamojong cattle raids into Kitgum, Teso, and Pader districts. Incidents of road ambushes, kidnapping of women and children, and criminality - to include murder, theft, and armed robbery and rape - have repeatedly resulted in the loss of life and property. Violent clashes between competing clans of cattle raiders and between the UPDF and raiders was and still is a common occurrence. In a blunt effort to stem the cycle of violence and insecurity, the Government of Uganda (GOU) moved its UPDF 3rd Military Infantry Division Tactical Headquarters from Mbale to Moroto in the Karamoja region, and initiated a disarmament campaign in 2001. It later added a development component to the disarmament campaign by launching in 2006 the Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Plan (KIDDP). ¶6. (SBU) Colonel Paul Lokech, UPDF 3rd Military Infantry Division Acting Commander, told the U.S. delegation that UPDF efforts to disarm the Karamojong, secure roads, conduct cordon and search operations for small arms, protect cattle and grazing corridors, and patrol the porous borders led to improved security in 2008. He said that the UPDF had collected over 26,000 guns since the disarmament campaign began and noted that increased UPDF deployment along the Kenyan and Sudanese border corridors had helped reduce arms trafficking. Though security had improved tremendously over the last year, Lokech reminded the U.S. delegation that the region's porous borders, climatic changes and harsh environmental conditions, and the Karamojong's "backward" agro-pastoral culture are impeding greater security and development success. He expressed UPDF frustration that the Kenyan and South Sudanese Governments were not doing more to disarm Karamojong tribes (the Turkana and Pokot in Kenya and the Toposa in southern Sudan),and wondered if the USG could help spur greater regional action to address this problem. ¶7. (SBU) Lokech said that after years of absence from the region, the Uganda Police Force (UPF) had increased its presence in Karamoja to 1,300, and that he expected an additional 600 soon. He explained that the UPDF was working with the UPF on a gradual handover of policing activities from military to civilian, but noted that the current context precluded establishing a firm timeline. (Note: We estimate it will be years before the UPDF can withdraw from Karamoja in favor of the police, who remain vastly under-resourced. End note). Lokech admitted that while the KIDDP is a solid framework for addressing Karamoja's needs, it has not yet reached the stage of implementation. He noted that there is a need to increase the GOU presence in the region, specifically mentioning the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Education, Transport, and Water. The UPDF, in the absence of a greater GOU presence, Lokech explained, had been forced to undertake cattle branding, supplement hospital staff and medicine stock, and carry out other social sector interventions. Local officials and civil society leaders echoed Lokech's concerns about the KIDDP, adding that it had meant very little in terms of on-the-ground development programs or service delivery. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - UPDF AND HUMAN RIGHTS AUTHORITY BATTLE OVER CIV-MIL CENTERS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶8. (SBU) Though the UPDF and the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) are wrangling over which institution should control Civil-Military Cooperation Centers (CMCCs) in Karamoja, human rights organizations and the UN report that the human rights situation in Karamoja has improved. Lokech told the delegation that the UPDF had engaged in human rights training and education, clearly outlined its rules of engagement and standard operating procedures, and stood up a Division Court Martial to try soldiers and Karamojong warriors accused of human rights abuses. He noted that the UPDF, with funding from the European Commission through Save the Children, opened Civil-Military Cooperation Centers (CMCCs) in December 2008 in all five districts to "win the hearts and minds" of the Karamojong. The CMCCs, he explained, also had UPF, civil society, and Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) representation. ¶9. (SBU) The UPDF's decision to break away from the CMCC structure set up in 2001 through the UHRC and establish its own parallel structure, has led to confusion on the ground and a bureaucratic impasse in Kampala. The KIDDP notes that the UHRC's CMCCs did not function as expected and that civilian involvement is hampered by "inadequate facilitation rendering them an exclusive preserve of the UPDF." The views expressed in the KIDDP track with the UPDF's KAMPALA 00000288 003 OF 003 justification for establishing its own CMCCs. Regardless, the UHRC is insisting that the UPDF disband its parallel structures and join CMCCs in which it has the lead. The outcome of this latest round of negotiations is pending. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Comment: Why Karamoja Matters - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶10. (SBU) Disarmament, despite the bumpy road, is working. Insecurity that once plagued the region, precluding greater access to vulnerable populations, is slowly eroding primarily due to UPDF efforts to disarm the Karamojong and pursue cattle raiders within Karamoja and at the borders. However, the dearth of basic social services, persistent drought conditions, UPDF-imposed restrictions on movement into neighboring districts, population growth, and lack of alternative livelihoods all make further progress difficult. Encouragingly, there appears to be recognition among many Karamojong that in the face of these challenges, they will need to change their way of life, but also recognition that help is needed to realize this change. Already, there are innovative new livelihood models popping up in the Karamoja region alongside communities of once-warring clans. It is imperative that the GOU deliver on the much-needed interventions outlined in the KIDDP, especially for the young disarmed Karamojong warriors, to avoid backsliding into insecurity and cattle rustling. The Mission in septel will outline a strategy for aligning present and future USG activities to address Karamoja's security and development needs. BROWNING