UGANDA

KARAMOJA
NORTHERN CONFLICTS
The Coming of the Colonialists/Missionaries: Collaboration,
Resistance and Conflict
The Karamoja sub-region in the far north east of the country is economically,
socially and infrastructurally isolated from the rest of Uganda. Its pastoralist
people have been marginalized and in a troubled relationship with the State
since colonial times, and their traditional livelihood, cattle herding, is increasingly
threatened. It is often said that ‘Uganda can’t wait for Karamoja to catch up’ -
but the Karimojong intellectual who said ‘We died long time ago’ undoubtedly
captured the sentiment of many in Karamoja itself.
50. Karimojong conflicts with the State (1926 – present)
Conflict between the Karimojong and the central Government stretches back to colonial
times when centralized government was first introduced in the area; huge chunks
of the pastoralists’ communal lands were seized and gazetted by the British Colonial
administration in actions which have yet to be reversed. The colonial administrators
declared Karamoja a closed region and managed it under martial law from 1911 onwards.
Plunder and repression by the colonial administration was continued by subsequent
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