Uganda security searching four officials feared killed by cattle rustlers

KAMPALA, Uganda

Authorities have dispatched joint police and army ground forces purposed to find at least four government officials feared killed by armed cattle rustlers in the Karamoja Sub-region.  

The four geologists from Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development were reportedly on duty in Rupa Sub - County in Moroto District on Monday.

"The ministry sent them to do mapping in Karamoja after the recently concluded airborne mineral survey. I was sent to Nakapiripirit District and my four colleagues went to Rupa but I received a phone call from community leaders that they landed in an ambush,” Mr Gerald Eneku, the Karamoja regional inspector of minerals told this reporter on Tuesday.

Mr Eneku said he was now “desperately using the Global Position System (GPS) tracker to search for his counterparts who never returned on Monday.”

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces’ (UPDF) 3rd division commander Brig Joseph Balikudembe disclosed that some soldiers are now on ground to establish if the officials were killed.

"I don't have concrete information about that incident but we will communicate the findings later," he remarked.

Security in Karamoja has significantly deteriorated at the hands of deadly armed cattle rustlers that have recently killed over 40 people.

Their resurgent attacks have steadily disrupted relative peace only achieved through successful disarmament enforced by government from 2003-2008.