A group of National Police Reservists clashed with Uganda People’s Defense Force soldiers who crossed the Kenyan border to Turkana in search of suspected stolen livestock.
The incident happened in Oropoi Sub Location reported a shooting at Nawontoz area, officials said.
The UPDF soldiers were pursuing goats that had been stolen from their country when they crossed to the area, police said.
Bandits had raided villages bordering Kenya and stole an unknown number of goats.
This prompted the UPDF soldiers who operate in the area to pursue them to the Kenyan side, officials said.
It was then that a group of NPR operating in the area responded and engaged the soldiers in a shootout.
Officials said the soldiers retreated to their country along the border hills. No injuries were reported.
A peace delegation was later sent from Uganda to Kenya to pursue the matter, officials said.
The talks were held on Tuesday April 2 and solved the standoff. A search for the goats to be returned to Uganda is ongoing.
Cattle rustling is common in the area and at times turns tragic.
Dozens of Kenyan herders are in Ugandan jails after they were caught in cattle rustling activities.
Turkana Senator James Lomenen told the senate last August that 32 Kenyan pastoralists from Urum and Lokiriama villages in Turkana County were allegedly arrested by Ugandan authorities in April, tried, and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The legislator claimed the pastoralists were arrested by Uganda People’s Defence Force and the police, in the guise of disarmament operation.
Uganda has imposed stringent measures to address the menace.
The measures include marking of livestock in the area to enable officials identify those stolen.
Last October, Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai said they are ready to pay the compensation demanded by Ugandan authorities as reparation for five Ugandans killed in 2022.
This is part of demands made by President Yoweri Museveni, in an Executive Order released in May 2023 giving conditions for the release of Turkana herders jailed in Uganda and lifting a ban on Turkana pastoralists to graze their livestock in the country.
Lomorukai announced that the county was working to find resources to procure livestock which will be used as “blood settlement” demanded by President Museveni.
This is a traditional form of resolution of the conflict, which resulted from the murder of three geologists and two UPDF soldiers in Karamoja in March 2022 by unknown people.
Uganda authorities later arrested a number of Turkana herders who were then court-martialed and jailed.
“President Museveni has asked that we pay compensation for the Ugandans who were killed. We are engaging to find funds to purchase heads of cattle to pay the compensation,” he said.
The governor said Turkana leaders had sought the help of President William Ruto to secure the release of the jailed Turkana herders and the President had assured them that talks were ongoing between the two governments.
He announced that seven herders among the 42 jailed in Uganda would be released soon after the authorities found that they were juveniles.
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