ABSTRACT
The pacification of the Karimojong in Uganda is still an ongoing process, as heavily armed pastoralists have until recently raided each other for cattle. Efforts by first the British colonial government and then by the Ugandan state to disarm and pacify them have met with mixed results, as state agents failed to offer protection to peaceful or disarmed groups. Nor has the state offered attractive incentives, instead concentrating its efforts on a complete transformation of local livelihood, meaning the sedentarization of these nomadic pastoralists. As the state is unable to establish an effective monopoly of force, attempts at introducing a government-controlled legal system (for example through the appointment of “chiefs” during the colonial time) or other institutions for peaceful conflict settlement have similarly failed.
