No More AKs

The government has been stepping up the disarmament in Karamoja, which I hope will be successful in the long run. So far it's just meant trouble, though. In Tokora, one of the nearby towns, there was some fighting the day before I left. The army came in to get the guns, and the warriors said "over my dead body" - literally. It's odd to read about something that happened while I was there, but it was in the news. Anyway, it seems a big part of the problem is that the army has a lot of leeway in how they handle things in Karamoja, so if they decide to beat people up and even do some looting on the side, there's not much to stop them. Of course this doesn't happen everywhere, but the stories are bad, and people are fearing. The day the trouble started in Tokora, one of the askaris (the one I know best even though our coversations have been limited thanks to my lack of Karamojong) was in church, and then came to afternoon prayers, where he asked Al to pray about the disarmament. He hadn't been showing up much for a while before that.

Katie just informed us yesterday that the soldiers came to Agirowase's (spell?) village, just down the road. They beat up Al's translator, who is partially crippled, and hauled a bunch of men off to jail, apparently until they turned in their guns. Iriyama, who's an old man, got taken along too, although I'm sure he hasn't gone raiding in years. I bet he gave them trouble, though! Anyway, I'm thankful to hear that no one got seriously hurt, and the guns have been given up. At least some of them - I assume there are more hidden away somewhere. What to do?

Kids at Agirowase's village

But then, this could be a start to relative peace in Karamoja...hearts will change "slowly by slowly," but in the meantime there will be less shooting your enemy to steal his cows (or shooting your brother, because you're drunk and ticked off).