Historical ethnography and the collapse of Karamojong culture: premature reports of trends
2002
B. Knighton
In late 2001, the government of Uganda, with support from international NGOs and donor organisations, initiated a disarmament programme, with the aim of stemming violence and clamping down on on the trafficking of illigal arms in the region. This programme led to the Karimojong voluntarily handing in nearly 8000 guns before the final amnesty deadline on 15.2.02. However, following the deadline a forcible campaign employing some 15 000 troops was initiated to ensure compliance with the programme.Whilst recognising that the Karimojong have always used weapons to assert their independence and secure their rights within the faramework of their own political systems this paper argues that current army interventions are responsible for perpetration of unbridled violence and human rights abuses against the Karimojong. Such has been the extent of this violence that several thousand have now crossed into Kenya to organise a resistance programme.The paper argues that this programme, which is funded and supported by numerous donors (several of which are UK-based) is legitimised on two main accounts: the prevailing post September 11th discourses which associate failed and failing states such as those in North-East Africa with the proliferation of terrorist activities the basis that government control over the region will assure security and thus open up prospects for profitable foreign investments in the form of gold-miningThe author concludes that if the programme of forcible disarmament continues in its present vein then the Karimojong and their culture face the possible threat of genocide.
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