Turkana herdsmen are believed to have killed five Ugandans in the unrest-ridden northeastern Karamoja region in March 2022. President Yoweri Museveni has ordered that Kenya extradite them to Uganda so they can face prosecution.
Written by Chris Muhizi Minembwe Capital news 1:10pm Kampala Uganda Time.
In his efforts to disarm the Karimojong warriors and maintain security in the region that borders Kenya to the northwest, President Museveni referred to the Turkana issue as “another destabilizing factor.”
The senior leader gave the Turkana a six-month deadline to comply with the mandate in Executive Order No.3 of 2023, which was issued on May 19 and made public on Wednesday. If they failed to do so, he would deport all Turkana and their herds from Ugandan territory.
The Turkana had been let to settle in Karamoja near the Kobebe Dam because of his government’s pan-Africanist ideology, he said, but he added that because in Kenya “they have not carried out disarmament,” the Turkana cross with guns.
As part of cross-border initiatives supported by the United Nations Development Programme to improve access to water for the drought-stricken Karimojong and Turkana pastoralist communities, President Museveni and his then-Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta jointly inaugurated the 2.3 million cubic-liter Kobebe dam in 2019.
According to #The EasterAfrican, Three geologists from the ministry of energy, one officer of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, and one soldier were all killed during the raid by alleged Turkana cattle rustlers.
“The geologists’ murderers need to be returned to us so we may prosecute them for murder”.
The killers were not turned over to the Ugandan government with the guns, Museveni stated in the order, which tone is likely to put the country’s ties to President William Ruto’s administration to the test.
