Angering Akujů: Survival and Suffering in Karamoja a Report on Livelihoods and Human Security in the Karamoja Region of Uganda
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DECEMBER 2007 Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice Angering Akujů: Survival and Suffering in Karamoja A Report on Livelihoods and Human Security in the Karamoja Region of Uganda Elizabeth Stites, Darlington Akabwai, Dyan Mazurana and Priscillar Ateyo SEPTember 2006 Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice The Feinstein International Center develops and promotes operational and policy responses to protect and strengthen the lives and livelihoods of people living in crisis-affected and -marginalized communities. FIC works globally in partnership with national and international organizations to bring about institutional changes that enhance ef- fective policy reform and promote best practice. This report is also available at fic.tufts.edu. Angering Akujů: Survival and Suffering in Karamoja A Report on Livelihoods and Human Security in the Karamoja Region of Uganda Elizabeth Stites, Darlington Akabwai, Dyan Mazurana and Priscillar Ateyo ©2007 Feinstein International Center. All Rights Reserved. Fair use of this copyrighted material includes its use for non-commercial educa- tional purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Unless otherwise noted, those who wish to reproduce text and image files from this publication for such uses may do so without the Feinstein International Center’s express permission. However, all commercial use of this material and/or reproduction that alters its meaning or intent, without the express permission of the Feinstein International Center, is prohibited. Cover image: Former police post near Nakonyen, Moroto District. Feinstein International Center Feinstein International Center Tufts University Addis Ababa Office 200 Boston Ave., Suite 4800 P.O. Box 1078 Medford, MA 02155 Addis Ababa USA Ethiopia tel: +1 617.627.3423 tel: +251 (0)11 651 8619 fax: +1 617.627.3428 fax: +251 (0)11 651 6333 fic.tufts.edu fic.tufts.edu contents Acknowledgments 3 I. Executive Summary 4 II. Introduction 7 III. Generation-Sets, Age-Classes and Passage of Power 15 IV. Livelihood Systems and Strategies 19 V. Food Security 35 VI. Education and Health 44 VII. Marriage in Karamoja 51 VIII. Armed Raiding 55 IX. Disarmament Campaigns and Cordon and Search Operations 63 X. Conclusions 73 XI. Recommendations 78 References Cited 83 Feinstein International Center Acknowledgments Funding and support for this research was provided by UNICEF/Uganda, the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI), the International Research Development Center (IDRC), and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The authors are also grateful to colleagues who provided written comments on the preliminary draft of the re- port, including Fraser Bell, Andy Catley, Filippo Ciantia, Jeremy England, Elizabeth Evenson, James Feeney, Hussein Golicha, Longole James, Rachel Locke, Alix Loriston, Simon Nangiro, Ochieng Charles Wilfred, Holly Welcome Radice, Paul Ronan and Andrew Timpson. Numer- ous people also gave feedback at briefings conducted in Kampala, Moroto, Washington, and New York and these insights and additions were extremely helpful in finalizing the report. We also wish to thank our colleagues at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University for supporting this work, organizing travel, briefings and finances and finalizing the report, including Beth O’Leary, Rosa Pendenza, Anita Robbins, Emily Torres, Peter Walker, and An- drew Whitacre. We thank Tim Morris for assisting with editing. We thank Scott Ronchini, as always. We wish to thank our research team in Karamoja for their hard work. Lastly, we wish to express our gratitude to the households and communities that welcomed our team and the numerous respondents who gave their time to talk with us. Opposite: Fortifications in Karamoja December 2007 • Angering Akujů: Survival and Suffering in Karamoja I. Executive Summary This report primarily draws on information from likely to be more food insecure than those with larger, fieldwork conducted from 2005-2007 throughout Kar- healthier and better protected herds. The balance be- amoja and in neighboring districts of Uganda, Sudan tween animals and agricultural production is critical to and Kenya. We interviewed over 900 individuals and maintaining food security. Reliance on cultivation in- carried out direct and participant observation in man- creases when animals are lost through raids. yattas (the social, cultural, political, and economic unit A dual settlement system has traditionally allowed for an extended family or several families), kraals (mo- for the mitigation of vulnerability. Manyattas are semi- bile cattle camps/fortified cattle enclosures) and town permanent homesteads inhabited by men, women, centers throughout Karamoja. We focused on the gen- children and the elderly, and are usually near areas used der and generational dimensions of Karamojong liveli- for cultivation. The kraals are mobile or semi-mobile hood and human security systems and strategies. We livestock camps, and are inhabited by a shifting popula- offer detailed information for those seeking to better tion of adolescent males and females, women, men (in- understand the underlying causes of, as well as the ef- cluding male elders) and children. fects of insecurity on civilian lives and livelihoods. We In previous generations, a group would follow the used gender and generational perspectives and human same approximate migration pattern each year, with security and livelihoods frameworks in the collection variations based on water and pasture conditions. Regu- and analysis of the data. We hope the report may in- lar movement patterns, however, became curtailed with form the policies and programs of the Government of the increase of cross-border and internal raids in the Uganda (GoU), the United Nations, donors, and inter- 1970s. Insecurity brought tighter borders and strained national NGOs. relationships among groups within and adjacent to Kar- amoja. Loss of lives and destruction of livelihoods have …………. become a pattern of life. When the overall number of animals within a community declines to a certain point, Life in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda the dual system of manyattas and kraals starts to break is harsh and defined by periodic and extended droughts, down. Shared access to grasslands and watering holes sporadic and often brutal violence, cyclical cattle raid- has decreased. Groups who often clash are separated by ing and chronic food insecurity. Home to just under a swathes of no-man’s land. A number of prime grazing million people, the Karamoja region is the poorest in areas remain inaccessible due to insecurity. Manyattas Uganda. Low and highly uneven annual rainfall mean that were once scattered are now closer together, home that the most common livelihoods strategy is to com- to larger populations, and often located closer to towns, bine limited wet-season cultivation with semi-nomadic trading centers or Ugandan military bases. pastoralism. Local communities rely on access to mar- kets to sell natural resources or animals, to purchase food, to acquire inputs for agricultural production to Traditional Authority purchase veterinary medicines, to seek casual labor, and to access heath and other basic services. Raiding, Power is traditionally invested in an age-set and theft, ambushes and poor road infrastructure affect the decisions made collectively at sacred assemblies. Ini- availability and price of grains and other essential com- tiation is an event of primary importance to male Kar- modities. amojong and marks the passage to adulthood. Only two For most populations in Karamoja, food security is generation-sets can exist simultaneously—elder males determined by access to and availability of animal pro- in power and the junior generation-set which will even- tein and grains. Cultivated vegetables, wild fruits and tually assume power. There is no set formula or time- wild greens supplement the diet. Communities with frame for the passing of power. The last handover was fewer animals, those that are more prone to animal dis- in the late 1950s. Remaining members of the senior eases, and those that are more susceptible to raids are generation set are well-advanced in years, but have yet Feinstein International Center to relinquish their official role. The frustration of the tas and tribes. The near complete lack of law and order uninitiated males continues as their group advances in and justice institutions and personnel in Karamoja, the age and their own sons reach adulthood. Events asso- relatively unimpeded acquisition of weapons and am- ciated with this frustration—an upsurge in raiding by munition, periods of repeated and prolonged drought, uninitiated males and heightened tensions among the and the spread of livestock diseases have shaped prac- generations—have added to instability. tices of raiding. The most notable changes are the re- When the authority of the male elders is respected placement of spears with firearms and decline in the management of food supplies is more centralized and role of elders, seers and women in sanctioning and sup- communal. As the authority of the elders diminishes, porting raids. Commercial raids carried out by small livelihoods are lost and impoverishment increases. groups without communal consent are on the increase. When elders are less able to manage food security, fur- In a commercial raid, cattle are not retained by