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PASTORALISTS IN VIOLENT DEFIANCE OF THE STATE The case of the Karimojong in Northeastern Uganda Eria Olowo Onyango Dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of Bergen 2010 2 3 Acknowledgements In the course of preparations for this thesis, many people supported me in various ways and I want to acknowledge their contributions. I would like to thank everyone who has been part of my intellectual community that molded me. Most specifically, I want to acknowledge with deep gratitude my supervisor Professor Leif O. Manger, for first of all identifying the potentials in me and for the invaluable guidance, support and time given for steering the entire project right from scratch to the final product. I am much indebted to Professor Edvard Hviding, for his brilliant comments, advice, and encouragement. I would also like to thank Professor John Knudsen for his constant encouragement and support during the PhD writing workshops. I wholeheartedly acknowledge the support of Professors: Bruce Kapferer, Ornulf Gulbrandsen, Olaf Smedal, Andrew Lattas, Anh Nga Longva and Vigdis Broch-Due for their valuable input and experience they shared with me at different times in the completion of this thesis. Before joining the PhD programme I was privileged to get the NORAD scholarship for Mphil in Social Anthropology at University of Bergen; am grateful for NORAD and specifically to Professor Gunnar Haaland who coordinated the programme and whose intellectual inspiration gave me the foundation for this work. I would also like to thank my dream PhD discussion group at the Institute for Social Anthropology at University of Bergen; Bjørn, Robert, Jessica, Margit, Hanna, Dinesan, Thomas, Rune, Rolf and all those I shared ideas with, thank you for the nuanced readings and advice that were very constructive not only in this project but also in my scholarly development. I would also like to specially thank Pavla Jezkova, the head of administration at the Institute of Social Anthropology who was always very caring in providing me the finest environment and support at the Institute of Social Anthropology. I am grateful to all the dedicated staff at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. I am indebted to all the others who helped me to revise parts of this thesis, particularly towards the end of this project. There is no way I would have 4 finished this project or even got to Norway without the financial support I got from The State Educational Loan Fund. Am extremely grateful for the scholarship I was awarded from Lånakasse, the financial support from The Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bergen. I also want to thank the Nordic Africa Institute for the travel scholarship and the study grant, all of which made this project possible through their financial support. Thanks also to the library staff at Nordic Africa Institute Library for help with the research materials on conflict in the Horn of Africa. Thank you also to Inga-Britt, Mats Utas and Sverker Finnstrom from University of Stockholm with whom I shared a lot of discussions on my material. I am also highly indebted to my University, Makerere University for granting me the leave to undertake my PhD training; particularly I want to thank the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Edward K. Kirumira for not only granting me leave but also nurturing me academically right from my undergraduate training to providing me invaluable insights during my PhD proposal writing and data collection, I am short of excellent words to thank you! In the same vein am grateful to the head of Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Makerere University for bearing with my many years of absence while teaching and research needed me at the department. My colleagues at the department, particularly, James Wasike, Innocent Kamya, Fred Bateganya, Doris Muhwezi, Rita Nakanjako, Robert Kabumbuli, Dauda Waiswa, Igeme Katagwa, Susan Gamwino, Constance Mudondo, Chris Opesen, Gordon Ainebyona, Nicholas Mugabi, Stella Neema, Florence Asiimwe, Ruth Nyirandikumwami, Sarah Nasuuna and Yunia Ndwadde plus all the others whose names I have not mentioned, were a great inspiration to me and supported me in various ways. There are also those whose acts of kindness and support made this project possible. The people of Karamoja and specifically the people of Kaabong, am very grateful for tolerating me and my questions all around you. Paak Peter Pex and Acheng Agnes cared for me, protected and guided me while I was in the field and particularly in doing translations and attending meetings during the research process. Sam, Lokeris, Paak and Simon Lomoe all from Kaabong, who graciously welcomed 5 me to stay with them for all the months I was doing fieldwork in Karamoja. Without their help and support I would not have made any break through especially at the peak of disarmament operations. I am equally indebted in gratitude to all the respondents of my study who welcomed, helped and provided me with the information I needed and as I promised, I will keep your names for the moment. Many friends supported me on this journey and have to be honored. To my good friends at Fantoft who kept reminding me am human – Sam, Nicolausi, Milton (mufuruki), Pauline, Kay, Tabitha, Godfrey, Justine, Carol, Anna, Juliet, Richard and all Ugandans who were in Bergen – am grateful for your friendship you offered when I really needed it most – thank you. Thanks as well to my friends in Kampala, Isaac Okullo, Fred Kindi, Peter Fuuna, Fred Musisi and I want to thank especially Mrs Diana Nyago who would always meet with me and give me wise advice each time things got tough. Last but most importantly, I wish to express my gratitude to all my family. I acknowledge my nephew Clark, my brothers Peter, Stephen, Moses, Yolam and my sister Eresi for taking care of my wife and the family. I will forever be grateful to my father Mr. Gaster Olowo for his great encouragement when I expressed interest in starting this project. He always told me “go fight thy good fight” and encouraged me to the very end, my mother Mrs. Rose Olowo, and my mother-in-law Ms Ruth Pindi were my greatest asset in calming the stress levels, I am grateful wholeheartedly. Finally, the very special people whom I have no words to thank are my family; my wife Olive Olowo for her unwavering belief in me. Fine words fail me in expressing my appreciation to my dear wife for her devotion, love and unrelenting confidence in me, and for so many other reasons which make her very much part of this success. Our sons Claude, Calvin and Clovis should be thanked for their patience and love, I will always remember their constant questions ‘Daddy when are you coming back?’ Thank you my lovely little boys, am back! But most of all, I thank God who is my Light, Author, and Wisdom. 6 Dedication I dedicate this work to my family; my dear wife Olive and son’s; Claude, Calvin and Clovis. 7 Abstract This thesis explores the issue of persistent violence between pastoralists and the state in north eastern Uganda, probing why after many years of trying to settle the problems of cattle raiding, armed violence and disorder still pervade the area. The study argues that while resource conflicts and violence between different groups are not strange in this region, the new dimensions and intensity brought in new actors and more innovative processes. A situation that has been created leaves the bulk of the population vulnerable to rampant armed violence and has become the order of everyday life. A number of factors are held responsible for this upsurge of violence and continued vulnerability of the largely agro-pastoral communities, they include: cattle raiding, decades of political marginalization, pastoralists’ cultural and economic focus on cattle, environmental change, different development processes, and the ongoing forced disarmament process by the State military forces. The populations have survived for a long time through these combination of both natural and human-induced disasters competing for the scarce resources, but their resolve to keep up their pastoral lifestyle while taking advantage of the historical and dramatic events like the political turbulence in the region as well as the sudden rise in arms smuggling opens up numerous processes that run parallel to each other. Though the situation is not “normal”, the local people continue to eke out a living amidst extremes of gun related violence and a horrific humanitarian environment. Due to their continued involvement with modern weapons, the attention of the state and other global forces like the UN has been drawn into the area to intervene, particularly in disarming the warriors and allay the security threats they pose to the region. But instead of ridding the region of violence, such interventions have intensified the rivalries, introduced new actors and new forms of violence. In reality, while the most visible actors are the state security apparatus and the armed warriors, an array of less visible actors are continuously coming into the context including; politicians, businessmen, warlords, the media, humanitarian agencies, and NGOs. Their participation and indeed contribution towards sustaining the violence is embedded in the many wide-ranging processes that furnish aspects of violence. 8 In the type of situation presented here, different notions of violence begin to emerge depending on the cultural, historical, and political moments regarding pastoral ways of life, acquisition of arms and use of armed violence. Thus, in as much as conflict and violence between different groups were not strange in this region, the new dimensions and character require deep exploration. This study focused on the critical junction at which the different historical, cultural and, both local and large-scale processes converge in understanding why and how violence has characterized the relations between the state and the society.

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