The UPDF commander for the Land Forces Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has voiced an end to the diplomatic efforts in defusing the resurgent cattle rustling/criminality in the Karamoja Sub region.
Muhoozi through his Twitter handle vowed to take serious action against the malicious rustlers, whose grim acts on the population in the region, has led to loss of lives and property.
The criminals have in recent weeks stepped up raids in a bid to make off with cattle, leading to the death of three geologists and two UPDF officers a few days ago.
In that respect, an angry Muhoozi took to his Twitter handle and promised to hold the ferocious rustlers accountable for their heartless acts.
“Karimajong criminals killed my soldiers in cold blood! There will be hell to pay for that! If they want to avoid retribution they better get in touch with our RDSs and commanders in the region NOW! Otherwise, let us see who the real are!,” Muhoozi angrily tweeted on Wednesday.
“My Karimojong brothers! We have begged you to stop the life of robbery and violence. We have begged you to stop attacking your neighbours but to no avail! You have refused all our appeals! Well, now we are coming and hell is coming with us,” the First Son added.
The rustlers/criminals conduct weekly raids, where hundreds of animals are reported stolen across the region, even after the army reinforced deployment in October 2021, to counter the vicious activities.
The criminals are feared to possess over 500 guns illegally and efforts to disarm them have so far not yielded to the expectations of many, with allegations of human rights abuses by security operatives.
While talking to the press on Tuesday, UPDF 3rd division commander Brig. Joseph Balikudembe said the army is in advanced stages of clearing the insecurity mess perpetuated by cattle rustlers in the region.
“They have provoked us and now, we are going for them wherever they are,” remarked Brig. Balikudembe.
In November last year, rustlers raided Lokong’s communal kraal, in Northeastern Uganda’s Kaabong district and made off with nearly 1,000 cows, local officials said.
This was just one, in a series of vicious cattle raids, masterminded by the rustlers, causing wider insecurity and violence.
“When the raiders come here, they find only children protecting the cows, there is no one to scare them away because people have been disarmed,” said Lokong, a resident of Karapata village in Kaabong district.
The nine districts of semi-arid Karamoja, enjoyed a decade of relative peace after the army disarmed gun-wielding rustlers in the early 2000s.
But in the last two years the raiders have returned, killing people and stealing the cattle, worsening livelihoods of the locals.
Recent military statistics indicate that in 2021 alone, 251 cattle rustlers were killed, with 1600 captured, while 15,000 livestock and 160 guns have been recovered.
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