{UAH} Mt Elgon locals cry out over rape, murders by park rangers

Mt Elgon locals cry out over rape, murders by park rangers

Written by JAMES SSEKANDI

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Created: 19 September 2016

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As we walked for four hours over ridges, crossed rivers and rivers, and trudged over a steep slippery road that vehicles can't use, the isolation of the community that we were visiting became ever more palpable.

By the time we reached our destination, located midway the arduous climb up the Elgon mountain, a blanket of mist had swept over Senedet village. And then the rains fell.

At Senedet village, we found the Benet people (also known as the Ndorobo), a minority ethnic community related to the Sabiny, who have lived in the Mt Elgon national park forests for more than two centuries.

Since 1983, when the government set aside 6,000 hectares to resettle the Benet-Ndorobo people from the forests in what turned out to be a botched exercise, a conflict has raged out of view of the rest of Uganda.

The Benets show a sign of soildality against game rangers' evil acts on Mt Elgon national park

To survive, the Benet-Ndorobo have largely lived as outlaws, playing a deadly game of hide and seek with the usually-heavily-armed Mt Elgon national park rangers in an attempt to access the only livelihood available to them in the forest resources.

This game has been even more ferocious since October 2005, when the Benet won a case in the High court at Mbale against the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). Court ruled that the Benet should be left to "carry out agricultural activities" in the areas where they have a historical claim.

RAPE, MURDER ACCUSATIONS

However, the Benet now accuse UWA rangers of dehumanising treatment towards the community, especially the rape of their women and the killing of their men. One of the victims, Rachel Chelanga, tells The Observer that the rangers take advantage of the seclusion of the Mt Elgon national park to commit their heinous crimes.

"Out there [in the park], no one can hear you scream. They took away my worth. [The park] is a death trap these days," she laments.

Rachel Chelanga

Chelanga, 26, explains that one morning in April, as she was picking firewood from a part of the forest two hours away from Senedet village, two rangers dressed in green attacked her, dragged her to the bushes and raped her.

Two hours after Chelanga's attackers fled, two of her family members found her naked, covered in blood, gagged, and tied up on two logs. Today, Chelanga cannot walk by herself. The mother of five uses a stick to prop herself up. She says even the father of her children has since abandoned her, on hearing the news of her rape.

According to Eddie Kulanyi, a police officer in Kween district, Chelanga is one of the four rape victims that have reported to the force and recorded statements.

"Two game rangers are on the run. We are investigating these allegations but most importantly we need the residents to be calm," Kulanyi says.

Some residents are, however, skeptical about the ability of the police to help them against the rangers. As a result, according to some residents, more than 10 other girls who say they have been raped this year have not gone to police.

William Cheptegei, a former area LC-V chairman, who was our guide and interpreter during the visit, says six natives and two game rangers have been killed. The 47-year-old Cheptegei accuses government of negligence. He says the situation has forced some members of the Benet community to seek refuge in the neighbouring Kenyan region of Kitale and Kiryandongo in western Uganda.

"Ruhakana Rugunda [prime minister] was here in December [2015] and promised to address the situation but nothing has been done," he recalls.

DIRE CONDITIONS

A tour of the Senedet village reveals discomforting truths. The area has only a privately-owned primary school, and there is no health centre to serve community members that fall sick. Other social amenities such as electricity and security are also just hearsay to the Benet-Ndorobo.

Instead, according to locals such as Julius Kipkosgei, 56, when UWA carries out operations that they say are aimed at stopping people from encroaching on the national park land, the locals lose their property and, sometimes, life. Kipkosgei claims he lost lots of property, including 79 heads of cattle, 33 goats and 27 sheep, during one such operation.

In 2012, about seven years after the ruling, the government decided to relocate 400 members of the Benet community to Kapkoros Teriet Internally-displaced persons' (IDP) camp in Bukwo district. However, critics say such actions will not provide long-term solutions to the problem.

Peter Kalule, the national livelihood coordinator for ActionAid Uganda, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) campaigning against injustice, urges the government to consider the Benet like any other Ugandans. He says that unlike other minority communities in Uganda, the government has deliberately marginalised the Benet by not providing them with health care, education and other social services.

"There is need to realise the need for deliberate laws and policies as well as their effective implementation to promote control and utilisation of land in rural areas," he tells The Observer.

Kalule also appeals to government agencies such as the Uganda Human Rights Commission and the Inspectorate of Government to investigate the alleged human rights violations against the Benet community.

The deputy resident district commissioner (RDC) for Kapchorwa, Robert Mutemo, says the government is aware of the plight of the Benet people. He says the government is currently looking for land within Sebei sub-region to resettle them and is also in talks with UWA over the allegations against some of its rangers.

Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower

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