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President Museveni issued Executive Order barring armed Turkana elements from entering Uganda until resolving issues of illegal arms and criminal activity. Four Turkana warriors were killed by UPDF after defying the order.

On May 19, 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni issued Executive Order No3, stopping armed elements of the Turkana from crossing to Uganda until the issue of illegal entry of arms and criminals who killed Ugandan geologists is resolved.

On Saturday, November 18, four suspected Turkana warriors from neighboring Kenya were slain after engaging in gunfire with the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF). They had entered Uganda in defiance of a May 2023 presidential directive.

In a statement issued on November 19, 2023, Maj. Moses Amuya, the public information officer for the UPDF Third Division, stated that the incident took place in Magos parish, Rupa sub-county in Moroto District.

“On Saturday, November 18, 2023, the Turkana warriors from neighboring Kenya disobeyed a presidential directive issued in May 2023 by entering Uganda armed and engaging in gunfire with UPDF soldiers on a routine patrol. During the engagement, four suspected Turkana warriors were neutralized and firearms were recovered,” Amuya stated.

Amuya observed that the Turkana criminal elements persisted in smuggling firearms into Uganda, re-arming Karamojong warriors, conducting raids, kidnapping soldiers and civilians, and murdering innocent civilians in spite of the directive and operational guidelines.

Some Ugandan communities (Karamojong) near the borders have been observed to maintain criminal alliances with their Turkana relatives. We make a strong plea to the Karamojong communities that border the Republic of Kenya and support the Turkana cattle rustlers to stop their illegal activities immediately, as they risk facing legal consequences. Amuya continued, “Turkana criminals are also subject to prosecution.

In his directive, Museveni threatened to banish all Kenyan Turkanas if the Kenyan government did not turn over the people they believed to be the murderers of five Ugandan citizens and stop smuggling illegal firearms and cattle into their nation.

In March 2023, three geologists traveling through Karamoja to map minerals met their demise. There were also three UPDF soldiers killed.

A shootout broke out when the accused attackers approached the group on Monday at 2:00 pm close to Lokisilei village, which is about 35 kilometers north of Moroto Town.

The two geologists who passed away were identified as Charles Olweny, a community liaison officer employed by EX-CALIBAR, a company tasked with carrying out the geophysical aerial survey in Karamoja one year later, and team leader Richard Kigwe.

In an eighteen-page Executive Order, President Museveni vented his frustrations, pointing out that although the Turkana herders were permitted to settle in Uganda’s Karamoja region, they were still bringing weapons into the nation illegally, endangering its stability.

He said that Kenya’s inadequate disarmament efforts were the reason why the Turkana herders owned guns.

“Long ago, I ordered these Turkanas to never bring guns in Uganda. They should just come and graze their cattle minus being armed. They, however, do not listen to this. Instead, they raid our disarmed Karimonjong, kill people, rape, etc. They are said to have raided 2245 cattle from the Jie,” he said.

Noting that only the guns were returned to the Ugandan government, but not the murderers, Museveni declared that the geologists’ killers needed to be brought to justice in his home country.

Alternatively, Museveni says that the murderers should carry out blood-settlement to the families of the deceased, coordinating with the governments of both Kenya and Uganda.

“The traditional price of a few cows cannot be the price of a kukaraba. According to him, it needs to be changed to reflect the full amount of what the departed would have contributed to society had those criminals not taken their lives.

Through the coordination of both governments Museveni, the Turkana must return to the victim communities the number of cattle equal to the cattle they stole from them.