Wüstenschiff

.. interventions made by [...] ministry under the Karamoja Integrated Development Programme had steadily changed the face of the region [...] “Only three years ago, 75% of households in Karamoja were dependent on food handouts for their existence. Now we have less than 10% who are vulnerable to food insecurity,” [...] “Law and order has returned to Karamoja and armed conflict is no longer a threat in the sub-region,” [...] only cases of petty theft exist but would be eliminated by policing [...] electronic cattle branding had reduced cattle rustling while dialogue would end district boundary disputes ...

IRIN hat geschrieben:
UGANDA: Weaning Karamoja off food aid
09.08.2012 - IRIN

KAMPALA - Uganda's arid northeastern Karamoja region has been dependent on food aid for decades, but new programmes by the government and its partners aim to bring an end to the cycle of relief and see the traditionally nomadic Karimojong become more self-sufficient through more settled livelihoods.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which has provided food aid to the region for over 40 years, has significantly scaled back and changed the dynamics of its Karamoja operations. These now support 150,000 people in extremely vulnerable households, down from one million in 2009.

Increasingly, WFP and other NGOs in the region are moving away from food donations to cash-and-voucher-based food assistance programmes, in line with the government's World Bank-funded Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) 2, which aims to improve the region's infrastructure and create employment in the construction, health and agriculture sectors among others.

"We are finding a way out of the Karimojong continuously needing and depending on food aid. In line with the objective of improving the livelihoods in the region, we have shifted from food aid to food assistance. We shall only support the very extremely vulnerable individuals," Sory Ouane, WFP country director, told IRIN.

Karamoja is home to an estimated 1.2 million people scattered over 28,000sqkm in the districts of Abim, Amudat, Kaabong, Kotido, Moroto, Nakapiripirit and Napak. The underdeveloped region - which consistently registers the lowest human development indicators in the country - is prone to climate shocks, experiencing a severe drought in 2006, a combination of a prolonged dry spell and flooding in 2007, another prolonged dry spell in 2008. About 970,000 people were in need of food aid in 2009.

"Karamoja is still a very fragile region; it has several issues. The food situation needs to be monitored. However, we don't plan any emergency food distribution," WFP's Ouane said.

Increasing self-sufficiency

The changed strategy aims to enable Karamoja to eventually build the capacity to absorb these shocks without needing outside support.

One such programme is WFP's Karamoja Productive Assets Programme (KPAP) [ http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/wf ... oja-region ], which in 2011 yielded close to 56,000 acres of crops, over 70 dams, 300 acres of trees, as well as roads and other community assets through cash- and work-for-food activities.

The German NGO Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has used cash-and-voucher-based food security programmes to rehabilitate a road - increasing access to markets, medical services and humanitarian relief - and a pond, improving access to water for the community's livestock, farming and domestic use. A 2012 analysis [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.in ... rt_883.pdf ] of these programmes found that they had a positive impact on beneficiaries both through "immediate results from cash earned... and also the longer-term impacts on livelihoods from the infrastructure projects themselves".

"Our people are very hard working. We can produce our own food instead of depending on relief. What we need is empowerment of our people by government," Simon Peter Aleper, a member of the Karamoja Parliamentary Group, told IRIN.

Through the Ministry of Karamoja Affairs, headed by Uganda's first lady, Janet Museveni, the government has embarked on several projects to boost the region's capacity to feed itself.

"We are intervening in all aspects to enhance food production and development of Karamoja," Martin Etyang, assistant commissioner of programmes for Karamoja at the Office of the Prime Minister, told IRIN. "We are providing vulnerable households with oxen and ox-ploughs, giving farmer groups walking tractors, supporting 8,000 women's groups to open acres of land using tractors, and providing seeds."

Augustus Nuwagaba, a poverty eradication consultant, told IRIN that in order for meaningful development to happen in Karamoja, the government needs to focus on addressing the issue of water.

"The region experiences erratic rains with a long dry spell that doesn't support farming," he said. "There is need for government to ensure the prevalence of water on regular basis... to devise means of harvesting and keeping water for irrigation and feeding animals," he said.

Etyang noted that the Karamoja ministry was building dams in all the districts to regulate the water supply; plans are also underway by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Water and Environment to set up irrigation schemes in the region.

Karamajong leaders are also encouraging the government to mine the precious metals found in Karamoja - including gold, silver, copper, iron, titanium and cobalt - and use the proceeds to develop the region.

Key to the success of Karamoja programmes will be the effective implementation of NUSAF 2. Its predecessor, NUSAF 1, was plagued by allegations of corruption. "There was misuse of resources and accountability problems in NUSAF 1. Most people ate the money meant for the projects to boost food production and reduce aid dependence... [They are] now being prosecuted in Karamoja," said Etyang.

A more settled life

Local leaders are working to convince the traditionally nomadic Karimojong to adapt to a more settled way of life; they say government disarmament exercises and cattle-branding have largely put a stop to the practice of cattle-rustling in the region. Former cattle-rustlers could now be engaged in other activities.

"They should be involved in aloe vera growing, gum arabic, small-scale petty trade and income generating activities," said Adome Lokwii, the Kotido District chairperson.

"As leaders from Karamoja, we are sensitizing our people to complete[ly] stop moving up and down. Our people value cows so much, [but] we want them to embrace change and government programmes. We are turning from nomadism to agro-pastoralists," said Rose Lilly Akello, an MP from Kaabong District.

NGOs on the ground say many Karimojong have already changed lifestyles. "The Karimojong are already settled, and the traditional nomadic lifestyle that was practised in the past...has been outweighed by several factors and no longer exists... Karimojong pastoralists are... diversifying their livelihood options in adaptation to the changing context," said Sylvia Atugonza, programme coordinator for the Riamiriam Civil Society Network in Karamoja.

"Consultations have been ongoing and the people do now appreciate the need to combine both pastoralism and agro-pastoralism as long as the weather permits," she added.

"The Karimojong are determined to do agriculture. Most of them have moved into green belts and fertile areas for agriculture," Joseph Orisa, the Kotido District information officer, told IRIN. "Karamoja is soon going to be the food basket for Uganda."

IRIN hat geschrieben:
UGANDA: Military deployed to Kenyan border to curb cattle rustling
12.10.2012 - IRIN

KAMPALA - The government of Uganda has deployed military personnel to its border with Kenya in a bid to stamp out cross-border cattle rustling.

"We have made deployments at the borders. We are now patrolling along the border lines. These are blocking forces to ensure they [Kenyan rustlers] don't cross into our side. Some of these troops are for pursuance," Capt Deo Akiiki, the military spokesperson for eastern Uganda, told IRIN.

Akiiki said the deployment was significant, but he was unwilling to divulge the exact number of soldiers dispatched.

Ugandan authorities told IRIN that there had been an upsurge of cross-border cattle rustling involving Kenya's Pokot community. Rustlers are crossing into the Karamoja sub-region region of Uganda, home to an estimated 1.2 million people, many of them pastoralists. On 3 October, suspected Pokot raiders attacked Karamoja's Nakapiriprit and Amudat districts and made away with an unknown number of cattle. Two Ugandan soldiers were killed during the raid.

"Cross-border cattle rustling has not been a bigger issue for some time, but [it has recently gone] up," Akiiki said. He noted that Kenyan authorities were being consulted and were involved in the exercise.

The Uganda People's Defence Forces have dismissed claims by Pokot herdsmen that the military presence along the border was impeding access to pasture for their livestock.

Role of small arms

In 2010, Uganda and Kenya deployed their militaries along the border to rid the Karamojong and Pokot communities of illegal arms that were suspected to be fuelling cattle rustling, but the exercise was not successful.

State Minister for Karamoja Affairs Barbara Nekesa Oundo said there is a need for neighbouring Kenya and Sudan to be as energetic as Uganda in their disarmament exercises: "We encourage our partners to enforce the disarmament exercise in their countries. We want them to go into full swing, as we have done, to end the problem of illicit firearms and end cattle rustling in the region."

In a recent analysis, Makerere University's Refugee Law Project, through its Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity Project, identified porous borders and small arms proliferation along the South Sudan, Ethiopian and Kenyan borders as key drivers of conflict in Karamoja.

According to military officials, some 30,000 out of an estimated 50,000 illegal guns in Karamoja have been recovered since the government launched a disarmament program there 11 years ago. However, there are concerns about the security of disarmed communities.

"Groups outside Uganda and those along the borderline remain with guns and continue to terrorize disarmed communities. Some people are being forced to re-arm," Stephen Oola, a transitional justice and governance analyst at the Refugee Law Project, told IRIN. "It is clear that some guns have been removed, although the exact number and whereabouts remain uncertain. The fears of insecurity and the vulnerability of the disarmed communities remains a growing concern.

"My recommendation to stop the cycle of disarmament and rearmament in Karamoja - there is need for a regional, comprehensive but peaceful disarmament programme, backed and supported by the United Nations and the African Union, if the region is to enjoy sustainable peace and stability," he said.

Uganda has an estimated 200,000 illegal guns [ http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/uganda ], according to the GunPolicy.Org, a gun violence monitoring organization.