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.

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BACKGROUND: MISSION DELEGATION VISITS KARAMOJA
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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.

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KARAMOJA IN STATISTICS
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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.

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SECURITY IMPROVING, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN
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5. (SBU) Chronic insecurity due to cattle raiding and small arms

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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.

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UPDF AND HUMAN RIGHTS AUTHORITY BATTLE OVER CIV-MIL CENTERS
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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

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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.

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Comment: Why Karamoja Matters
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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