Description

The long standing conflict between nomadic pastoralists commonly known as “Balaalo” and residents of the West Nile region and other parts of the country continues to escalate. Residents accuse the pastoralists of destroying their gardens, grabbing land, and harassing indigenous communities on the land where they graze their animals. Following this outcry, the Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has directed that they all be evicted from the West Nile sub region and returned to their land of origin by mid March 2018.
It is believed that there are more than 25.000 herds of cattle belonging to the pastoralists in the West Nile sub region. The SAFE Program has repeatedly reported about this conflict in various conflicts assessment reports. In the January 2017 conflict assessment report, the SAFE program reported how residents of Moyo and Yumbe districts carrying spears, pangas, sticks, bows and arrows evicted the pastoralists in the area amidst violent scenes. The pastoralists had been accused of grazing their livestock in the area, destroying crops and preventing residents from accessing water sources. The pastoralists were also accused of trying to process land titles for the areas they are grazing in without authorisation. In the November 2016 conflict assessment report, the SAFE program reported on skirmishes between residents and pastoralists in Palaro sub county in Gulu district which led to the District Local council (LC5) chairman Martin Ojara Mapenduzi issuing a two day ultimatum to the herdsmen to vacate the area or risk having their livestock confiscated. Conflicts between cultivators and pastoralists in different parts of Uganda have been recurring for a long time, claiming lives of many innocent people from the two communities and creating major economic impacts to the nation. There is urgent need to mitigate this conflict. Local communities should work together to demarcate grazing areas and water sources for livestock in areas occupied by both cultivators and pastoralists.