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Uganda: Baliisa And Pastoralists Still At Loggerheads
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The Monitor (Kampala)
9 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March 2008
Francis Mugerwa
Buliisa
MR David Tumushabe lives in fear and uncertainty.
"I fear that anytime the Bagungu may come, harm me and my animals," the 35- year -old pastoralist said at Bugana village.
He is not alone in this dilemma. It is uncertainty that characterises the life of over 300 herdsmen in Buliisa District who own an estimated 700 herds of cattle.
The local Bagungu cultivators want the wandering herdsmen evicted from the district on grounds that they settled in the area illegally.
The Bagungu also claim that the pastoralists graze cattle in their crop fields, an allegation that the herdsmen deny.
The Bagungu who are the natives of the district claim that the pastoralists want to grab their ancestral communal land, but the herdsmen claim they procured the disputed 40 square miles of land at a cost of Shs800 million.
The ethnic and land conflict broke out in the mid-western district in june,2007 and left ten people including the area MP Stephen Mukitale Biraahwa injured.
President Yoweri Museveni intervened and instructed his State Minister of Lands Kasirivu Atwooki and the Coordinator of Intelligence Services Gen.David Tinyefunza to settle the wrangles.
The two officials directed the pastoralists to vacate the district by June last year, a directive which they protested and sought legal redress. They secured a court injunction halting their eviction until their suit over the claim of land in the district is disposed of.
Several leaders have expressed concern over the continued stay of the pastoralists in the district.
"The residents are losing patience. Their wish is have these pastoralists forced out of the district," the District Chairperson Fred Lukumu said.
He said the farmers are reluctant to plant crops in fields fearing that they will be destroyed by the herdsmen's cattle.
The Bagungu want the court injunction lifted and pastoralists evicted. "They should go back to wherever they came from," Mr Stephen Mukitale Biraahwa the area MP said.
He claims that the herdsmen are very arrogant and have displaced the Bagungu from their ancestral land. The tension and suspicion in the two communities is high.
The Bagungu claim that the pastoralists transported animals to the district without veterinary permits, an allegation that the herdsmen deny.
The Bagungu also claim that the pastoralists have irregularly changed their traditional land use system.
They said traditionally, the eastern part of the district,the villages of Wanseko,Waisoke and Bugoigo are meant for cattle rearing.
They say the western part of the district covering the villages of Wa iga,Bugana,Kataleba,Kichoke,which the pastoralists currently occupy are meant for cultivation.
"We cannot allow them to forcefully change our tradition," Mr Blasio Mugasa, the area County Chief for Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom said.
He said the Kingdom has a long history of hospitality and assimilation for emigrants.
"We assimilated the Abatembuzi,Bachezi,Luo and several other tribes. But this group has refused to speak the Runyoro language and appreciate our values, norms and beliefs," Mr Mugasa said.
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However, Ms Grace Bwororoza, the leader of the pastoralists said the pastoralists are in the district legally and the claims against them are false and malicious.
"We bought the land from the landlords and we have supporting documents, we moved animals with permits, we do not destroy crops (as alleged) and we are Ugandans who are free to settle legally in a place our choice as stipulated in the 1995 constitution of the of Uganda, "Ms Bwororoza said.
Police has been deployed in the disputed villages to prevent clashes between the two communities. "We want law and order to prevail," the District Police Commander Mr Paul Mombugwe said. A security source who preferred anonymity said a group of Bagungu youth attack and st eal the herdsmen's cows at night in a desperate attempt to intimidate them and discourage them from grazing in the district.
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