As plans to disarm bandits in Karamoja take shape, the government dispatches choppers and military equipment.

According to sources, the government has dispatched helicopters to the Karamoja region to handle security operations as a forceful disarmament program takes shape.

The choppers, two of which have been spotted in action, arrive a week after the army sent more troops and military equipment to Karamoja in preparation for the operation.

President Museveni summoned security chiefs to a conference last month, demanding that they design strategic measures to combat the escalating insecurity in the Karamoja sub-region.

The meeting was a follow-up on Museveni’s fact-finding mission to the region, where he was briefed on the increased number of attacks on residents and their livestock by youngsters who have acquired guns and are using them to carry out revenge attacks.

Museveni said the top security commanders’ meeting will determine the final solution to the resurgent livestock raids in Karamoja, which he claims were prompted by a Karamajong warrior named Acucu, who was just released from prison after spending ten years.

When Acucu returned, he discovered his wives had married other men and that all of his animals were vanished.

During Museveni’s three-day tour in Karamoja, he was informed that Acucu, who is currently wandering the Jie and Turkana regions of Kenya, was unable to retrieve his livestock after his release from prison due to the lack of assistance from the police and local authorities.

As a response, he organized criminal gangs to target and raid Dodoth livestock, resulting in Dodoth counter-raids that resulted in the deaths of 400 people in two years.

“The Dodoth have refused to talk to the Jie about peace and have promised to harm them.” They only want vengeance. “We must break this cycle in a peaceful manner,” Museveni stated.