KARAMOJA: One person was on Tuesday shot dead by suspected Karamojong cattle rustlers in Agago District.
At 44 years old, Aquilino Lacan was shot in the chest by rustlers who had set up an ambush. He lives in the village of Lai Central, which is in the Paimol sub-county in the north of Argentina.
A relative of the deceased, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the Lacan was killed as he was pursuing his animals that were looted by the Karamojong. He was only armed with an arrow.
People in the Paimol Sub-county, Richard Ngomkura, say that the Karamojong took 48 goats and escaped the arrow boys’ trap.
Ngomkura told locals not to try to fight the Karamojong with their simple weapons. Instead, he told them to tell their local leaders about the Karamojong.
Kenneth Odoch, the LCI chairperson of Abilnino village, Layito Parish, in Omiya Pachwa sub-county, says the cattle rustlers attacked two homes on Monday and looted foodstuffs like simsim, sorghum, and an unspecified number of animals. He says up to 77 households with a population of 416 are displaced from the village…
According to Odoch, the Karamojong have killed at least 20 people since December last year and looted hundreds of cattle along the eastern border sub-counties like Paimol, Omiya Pachwa, Lapono, Lira Kato, and Adilang.
James Opira, the LCll chairperson of Omiya Pacwa Sub-County, says the Karamojong warriors attacked the LCI chairperson of Morolem village, Layita Parish, beat him up and took his stamp.
Besides Philip Odong, Opira says that the Karamojong also tried to kill another man, who was taken to Layita Health Center III.
He says that hundreds of people and their animals have fled their homes and moved to Omiya Ayima, a nearby town in the Lapono sub-county, for safety. Other people move every night to sleep in centers.
Susan Akany, the RDC of Agago, says that because of the ongoing disarmament in the Karamoja sub-region, Agago is still a good place to land.