[UAH] Unsustainable development to be changed

Unsustainable development to be changed

Source: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 07:35 AM

Author: Danish Refugee Council

 

Lack of natural resources on the one hand and an abundance of weapons on the other have for decades prevented sustainable development in the Karamoja region of Uganda. Today 90 percent of the population is dependent on food handouts from the World Food Program. A targeted, long-term effort is to reverse the trend.

Weapons, warriors and conflict are migrating back and forth across the borders between Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia. The Karamoja region in northeastern Uganda, a rural area the size of Jutland, is key to stabilizing the region.

"Cattle thefts, assaults, and struggles over resources happen with no regard for national borders and weapon shipments flow freely between countries in the region. For example, one of the tribes most involved in conflicts in Karamoja is also fighting in the most troubled province of South Sudan," says Poul Hagen Thisted, who is Programme Manager for the Danish Refugee Council and its mine action unit, Danish Deming Group (DRC/DDG) in Karamoja.

Traditionally, the people of Karamoja are cattle herders, but cattle require water and the area is simply too dry to sustain a large population of livestock. That is one of the reasons why the cattle herds are far from large enough to feed the growing population. Furthermore, the tradition of cattle raiding has led to increased violence as the number of livestock available has decreased.

Due to a very high level of conflict in the region, it has for many years been impossible to provide the needed humanitarian relief to reverse the trend of relying on violent raids to get food. Therefore, today up to 90 percent of the population is dependent on food rations they are given by the World Food Programme (WFP).

"It's a long process to turn the tide here, but it can be done by working with both armed violence reduction and development at the same time. You cannot just take away the weapons from people here; you have to give them an alternative. Therefore we provide a combination of firearms safety awareness, conflict resolution and development," says Poul Hagen Thisted, emphasizing that the work has to be coordinated in order to target conflicting groups at the same time.

In recent years, the government of Uganda has worked with various forms of disarmament in the Karamoja region, which unfortunately has led to major conflicts between the local population and the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). DRC/DDG has therefore worked to involve the parties in conflict resolution meetings and given them an opportunity to engage in dialogue.

"What DRC and DDG has done to clear out thoughts on UPDF and the police is very wonderful because now we live as brothers and sisters," says Somon Longok, a resident in Moroto District of Karamoja, recalling a time when he never thought he would be able to sit together with the soldiers who had beaten up his brother.

DRC/DDG started working in Uganda in 1999. In 2012, Uganda was declared free from landmines, in large part thanks to the work of DRC/DDG. In Uganda DRC/DDG works with Armed Violence Reduction, Livelihoods, Emergency food distribution, and micro grants.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum