Kampala
  21/08/07
 
KENYAN HERDSMEN ON HUNGER STRIKE IN UGANDA

By Leo Odera Omolo

Kenyan herdsmen who were recently seized by Ugandan security personnel and taken into custody are causing anxiety in the otherwise cordial diplomatic relations between the two partner states in the East African Community (EAC)

A group of herders have gone on hunger strike to press for the immediate, but unconditional release of their cattle, running into hundreds of thousands herds, currently held by the authority in Uganda.

A senior official of the Red Cross Society said in the Eastern Town of Tororo that the herders who are mainly from Turkana district in Northern Kenya are camping at the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) Barracks at Namorepus, in Kotido district about 200 km east of the capital, Kampala.

The herders, according to the official who preferred his anonymity, started the hunger strike (last Saturday immediately after the soldiers refused to hand back their cattle, about 7,000 heards.

“They have declined to take food. They insist that they will continue with their hunger strike until they get their seized animals back”, said the Red Cross official.

Last week, the UPDF soldiers fought with Matheniko raiders at Laitom as the herders tried to recover stolen cattle from the Dodoth tribesmen.

Kenyan herders had crossed the common border into Uganda following pasture scarcity in the semi - arid areas of Northern Kenya, during the recent long period of draught. Reports say some Matheniko youths had earlier in the week raided Dodoth villages while the Kenyan, Turkana herders were grazing their cattle alongside those of the Matheniko that the soldiers fired rockets before rounding up the cattle, claiming they were stolen.

Speaking in Lodwar after a brief visit to Urom area of Loima, where several herders fleeing the border have temporarily settled and camped, the Red Cross official said the Uganda soldiers had killed two Matheniko men.

There has been growing tension at the Kenya - Uganda border with hundreds of herdsmen fleeing following massive security operation, mounted by UPDF to disarm the Karamojong’ tribesmen.

The herders reported that the Ugandan soldiers are crossing the border into Kenya in search of illegal guns. Some of them have fled with their animals fearing the Uganda soldiers would raid their cattle.

An aid worker told the writer that local leaders, led by the Turkana central MP Hon Ekweo Ethuro, were in the process of visiting the striking herders.

Ends.

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com