Robert Muhereza
9 November 2009
Batwa leaders in the districts of Kabale, Kisoro and Kanungu have threatened to go back to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, their original habitat, because the government has refused to buy them land for resettlement. The Batwa were evicted from Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks in 1991 as the government gazetted the forests into national parks.
Mr Stephen Serutokye, the leader of the Batwa communities in Nyarusiza Sub-county, Kisoro, said his colleagues are suffering as they are employed to do menial jobs for other residents who pay them food instead of money. About 50 Batwa leaders were last week attending a three-day workshop on the rights and responsibility of minority groups in Uganda that was organised by African International Christian Ministry. However, it is reported that the government is opposed to their return to the park.
Cite segregation
Mr Serutokye noted that in the bush they had enough food and enjoyed themselves unlike now when they are treated as slaves. "We have no land on which to practice modern agriculture. We are only surviving because of some NGOs that lobby the international community to feed us as if we not Ugandans like others," Mr Serutokye said.
Batwa leaders said they are also segregated by non-Batwa because of their way of dressing. But Mr Serutokye's position may not be embraced by all his tribesmen.
For example, the leader of Batwa communities in Bundibugyo, Mr Geoffrey Nzito, is opposed to the idea of going back to the forest, saying he is leaving a better life than when he was in the bush. "I can't leave my gardens and go back to the forest where we lived as wild animals," Mr Nzito said.
The Kabale District vice chairperson, Mr Silver Baguma, asked the councils of Kabale, Kisoro and Kanungu to pass a special fund in their annual district budgets for the welfare of the Batwa communities.
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