Cattle rustling and human rights abuses in Teso Sub- Region: case of Bukedea District, 1986-2006.

Abstract

The study looked at cattle rustling and human rights abuses in Teso sub-region. The research was conducted in Bukedea district covering all the five sub-counties of Kachumbala, Kolir, Kidongole, Malera and Bukedea Sub County respectively. The study aimed at; exploring various kinds of human rights abuses that took place in Bukedea district, investigating why the Karamojong are still carrying out this activity in the twenty first century, examining the effects of cattle rustling in Bukedea district and to explore measures of ending cattle rustling in Uganda as a whole. During the research in Bukedea district, qualitative approach was used. This method was chosen because the researcher was interested in in-depth description of the phenomenon under study. From interviews, themes and categories were identified in relation to the objectives of the study. The findings indicated that, cattle rustling is still in existence mainly because of government neglect of the region, illicit modern weapons in Karamoja, insecurity in Karamoja region, unreliable and semi arid conditions in the Karamoja region among others. Finally, it is very true that human rights abuses took place in Teso as a result of cattle rustling in the region. It is also true that, there are some factors both natural and man made that the Karamojong are faced with such as persistent poverty, poor climatic conditions, in security, existence of illicit fire arms all which need urgent solutions.