Karamoja

Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda.

Geography

In 2011, the Karamoja sub-region was the site of an important fossil discovery. Paleontologists discovered the remains of Ugandapithecus major, a 20-million-year-old ancestor of present day primates. "It is a highly important fossil and it will certainly put Uganda on the map in terms of the scientific world," said Martin Pickford, one of the researchers involved in the discovery.

History

The region was ruled by the British from 1916-1962.

Armed conflict

As pastoralism and conflict are strongly interrelated, the integrated management of natural resources, like pasture, livestock and water becomes crucial. In terms of economic activity, the region depends on cattle keeping, mining, and trading in agricultural produce with neighboring districts. In mid-2006, as first reported by Inner City Press and then by The New Vision, the United Nations Development Programme halted its disarmament programs in Karamoja in response to human rights abuses in the parallel forcible disarmament programs carried out by the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). There have been reports of atrocities and many civil victims of the disarmament, as army forces and nomadic warriors clashed. The disarmament campaign usually involves the UPDF surrounding manyatas (villages) and evacuating people from the interior, prior to orchestrating searches for hidden weapons. In September 2007, Human Rights Watch released a 97-page report detailing alleged torture and even killings of children. However, this report also acknowledged that the UPDF's high command was attempting to address discipline problems, partly by providing human rights training, which had, by the time of the publication date, lead to cordon and search operations becoming "markedly less violent."

Karamoja (film)

Karamoja was a 1954 film produced by exploitation filmmaker Kroger Babb. A documentary of a native tribe from Uganda, the film was marketed by Babb to focus on the imagery that would be shocking to an American audience, including advertising which claimed that the tribe wore "only the wind and live[d] on blood and beer."

Scenes in the film included "the bleeding of cattle and drinking of the warm blood, and self-mutilation as a form of ornamentation," as well as a full-color circumcision scene.

Karamoja proved to be less controversial than many of Babb's other films, grossing less in box office revenue as a result.

References

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