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Marauding Elephants Drive Former IDPs Back Into Camps
Cissy Makumbi
20 September 2011



Nwoya — Four years after thousands of people displaced by the LRA war in Acholi sub-region returned to their ancestral villages from camps, some hundreds have been forced back again. But this time round, it is not the LRA attacks but marauding elephants.

The animals are reportedly on rampage in the area. At least 4,000 people from Koch-Lii, Coroom, Koch-Kalang and Agonga parishes all in Koch-Goma Sub-county in Nwoya District are stuck with no proper shelter and food after they fled their homes last week following repeated attacks by the elephants from nearby Murchison Falls National Park.

Authorities in the district have so far documented 500 households in need of assistance as the animals have destroyed their crops. Sources said several families are now spending nights in the cold in the old camps because the animals trampled on their houses. Many people are reportedly destitute, sleeping on verandahs of buildings at trading centres and return home only during the day. Musa Ociro, an elderly resident, said the government had "pushed them into elephant-infested areas".

Ultimatum issued

As a fight-back, the residents have given the Uganda wild Life Authority (UWA) one month to drive the elephants back into the park, saying failure to do so will lead them to kill the animals. "We shall equip ourselves with the best means to rescue ourselves if UWA cannot come to our rescue," Mr Louise Okong, now holed up in Koch Goma Trading Centre with his family members, warned.

The district Woman MP, Ms Lilly Adong, said as leaders, they will take the lead in resorting to 'Acholi ways' of dealing with the animals if UWA fails to drive them back into the park within the designated period.


"Agriculture is the backbone for our people. If elephants keep on stepping on our toes, how shall the people survive?" she asked. But the area conservation manager, Mr Tom Obong, said rangers are already on the ground to drive the animals back, although he said his office has not been notified of the ultimatum.

Since 2006 when the government directed former IDPs to return to their villages, the communities around the park have been battling the wild animals that on average destroy about 10,000 acres of crops in the area every year.

In 2010, an attack by the elephants in the same area left one person dead and 11 others seriously injured. Care International, an NGO, then collaborated with the wildlife body to dig trenches around the park to stop the elephants from straying into settlement areas but the trenches are now partially silted.