18 Karimojong children suspected of cattle rustling released

A primary seven Karimojong school boy will miss sitting for this year’s Primary Leaving Exams (PLE) because of unlawful arrest and detention in police cells.

Michael Longoli 16, a pupil of Kangole boys’ primary school in Napak district was yet to register as a PLE candidate when security men in Karamoja detained him for allegedly being a cattle rustler.

“Longoli and 17 other Karimojong children were arrested by the UPDF from different grazing grounds in Kotido, Napak and Moroto districts” says Mr. Moses Shuubi Lokoroi, the Moroto district senior probation officer.

The children who were kept at Moroto central police station for close to three months got released on Saturday last week after pressure from concerned children bodies like UNICEF and Save the children in Uganda.

The children were arrested by the army in an operation to enforce the recently imposed penal cod act that criminalizes cattle rustling in the region.
UNICEF country representative Mr. Sapra Sharad was in Moroto partly to give pressure for the release of the boys.

“We wanted to make sure that children below the age of 18 are kept out of the prisons. We negotiated with the UPDF and the district local government to see to it that these young boys got released and are taken back to school” said Mr. Sharad.

He revealed that an assembly of different stakeholders and development partners in Karamoja would be held in Kampala this week to forge a common vision for the region.

The meeting organized by the office of the prime minister will be attended by all UN agencies including other lead development partners operating in Karamoja.

Mr. Sharad said “The convention is organized by the first Lady and we hope to make a strong recommendation for a genuine pacification of Karamoja.”

He said one of the key issues that partners are set to table for discussion is the question of the rights of women and children.

Recently some 80 Karimojong street kids who were repatriated from the streets of Kampala to Napak district failed to identify their family people. Most of the children are now being kept by the charity sisters in Moroto Municipality.