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The Ugandan army is taking action to stop Turkana warriors from infiltrating the Karamoja region due to ongoing attacks. President Museveni issued an order banning Turkana pastoralists from grazing until those responsible for the deaths of Ugandan geologists are produced. 

The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) deployed more troops along the border with Kenya.

The Ugandan army claims that the action is meant to thwart the Turkana warriors’ ongoing attacks against the army in Kenya, who are trying to infiltrate the Karamoja region in quest of pasture and water.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni banned Turkana pastoralists from using the grazing lands until they produced the individuals responsible for the Ugandan geologists’ deaths, as stated in Executive Order 3. This order was issued on May 19, 2023.

Early last year, a group of five people were shot and killed in Karamoja during a mining mapping exercise in the Lotisan sub-county of the Moroto region.

Moses Muya, the acting spokesperson for the Third Division Infantry Division, said that the army detachment was established on the Ugandan side, around 100 km north of Moroto town, with the intention of reducing the conflicts that the Turkana herders had started.

He further said in the past two weeks, the hostile grazers have shot and injured two soldiers in separate incidents.

“These people have become hostile to our soldiers,” Muya said on Tuesday 17^th October 2023, adding that the army was only implementing the order from the President.

He continued by saying that they must go through the appropriate means to handle their situation if they are to enter the nation and care for their animals.

On October 8, 2023, Turkana warriors attacked the UPDF while they were on foot patrol along the Moroto-Kotido security road, which runs along the Uganda-Kenya border, according to Lt. Col. Patrick Obong, the 39 battalion commander in charge of the operations.

He claims that prior to the Turkanas vanishing into the bordering hills, one soldier was hurt in a gunfight.

“We also responded with our fire,” stated Obong, who also mentioned that there were no reported fatalities.