UGANDA

NORTHERN CONFLICTS
It is further alleged that Saleh paid out a lot of money to his agents to buy up cassava
flour – the staple food in the region – for export to China. This resulted in a rapid increase
of prices, whereby cassava prices jumped from 300 shillings per kg to about 1,200
shillings per kg, leading producers in the area to sell their cassava to the ‘Big Man in
the Forest’. As a result, people had no food reserves and could not find cassava in the
ordinary markets; where it was available, it was unaffordable. 276
At the time of the National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice Audit research in 2011,
tensions were flaring over Saleh’s occupation of the forest land. Despite proposals that
it be de-gazetted and sold to local landless people, it was believed that Saleh intended
to build a shopping mall instead. 277 Participants argued that Saleh’s business venture
in cassava trade was undermining stability on the ground by causing food insecurity,
and thus deemed Saleh a spoiler of the peace as profiteering from conflicts takes away
incentive to build lasting peace. 278
48. Conflict with the state over lack of electricity (on-going)
Participants reported that the lack of electricity in the West Nile region, from the colonial
era until the present, is an ongoing source of conflict as it increases West Nilers’ sense of
marginalisation. One participant questioned,
“Is this a deliberate attempt to keep us backward and deny
us development?” 279
Others pointed out the injustice of the fact that some of their parents and grandparents
had perished while building the Owen Falls Dam, a major hydro-electric initiative
constructed from 1950 to 1954.
49. Conflict between Congolese and West Nilers over arbitrary fees
(on-going)
Participants cited growing extortion by border authorities from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo as a destabilising conflict. Ugandan traders are increasingly subject to
arbitrary fees when doing cross-border business, though participants claimed they were
free to trade peacefully in the past. 280 This problem of extortion has, in turn, created
enmity between the local population and Congolese living in West Nile.
276 Research conducted in Arua District
277 Ibid
278 Ibid
279 Research conducted in Arua District
280 Research conducted in Aura District
127