Kampala — The army has put the number of illegal guns in the hands of Karimojong warriors at 700, a figure that shows substantial reduction in the illicit arms in Karamoja.

The UPDF third division spokesperson, Capt. Henry Obbo, said on Friday in Moroto that the ongoing forceful disarmament of cattle rustlers in area has reduced the number of illegal guns from an estimated 29,000 guns to 700.

The disarmament exercise, which resumed in 2005 after it had been abandoned at the height of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) incursions in the Teso, has come under attack by human rights organisations and politicians over allegations of human rights abuses by the UPDF. But the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, who is touring the region with UPDF MPs, told a meeting of army officers from the Third and Fifth divisions that the exercise is irreversible.

He said out of 28,037 recovered guns, 10,000 were handed over voluntarily in 2001 when the exercise kicked-off. "The pacification of this region will continue and we will continue telling the Karimojong to abandon the gun-culture," he said. These figures suggest that firearms that had been in the hands of Karamajongo warriors in 2001 were half of those in the hands of the UPDF.

To cut off the inflow of new guns, UPDF has sealed-off the Ugandan porous and troublesome borders with Kenya and Sudan. Gen. Aronda said they have moved battalions from the Fifth Division in Pader to Kaabong District under the command of Col. Sam Kavuma to cut-off in-coming guns from Topotha and Didinga tribes who have open gun-markets in South Sudan. While presenting a three-month situational report to Gen. Aronda, the Third Division commander, Brig. Patrick Kankiriho, said the attitude of the Karimojong towards development was improving.

"A couple of years ago, they would talk about cows throughout the meetings we have been having with them. But now, they talk about children going to school and the need to use anti-tick drugs. This change in thinking is a very big achievement," he said.

In the last three months, according to Brig. Kankiriho, they recovered 157 guns, majority of which were from Amudati. Col. Kavuma reported that he has lost four soldiers in the last two months and killed six warriors.