Resort to arms in Kenya

I sympathise with the pastors of the coastal region of Mombasa who asked the Kenyan Government for rifles (The Church in the World, 2 November). While non-violence is ideal, there is also a duty to preserve your life and property.

We lived in Uganda’s Karamoja region, where there has been a similar situation for more than 20 years. There was a lot of ­insecurity in the region, because of the huge number of firearms in the hands of the ­warriors of the tribe. The situation of Nakapiripirit District, at the foot of the Kadam – a 3,000-metre high extinguished volcano, where we were sent in 1984 by the Bishop of Moroto Diocese to start a new parish – was still worse. The Karimojong people, our new parishioners, who had settled at the foot of the mountain on very fertile land, were constantly attacked by the Tepes (the Ngikadama), an “enemy” tribe, who were living on the slopes of the Kadam. Our people were simple pastoralists turned ­peasants, armed with bows and arrows and traditional spears. The Tepes, who had decided to destroy the Nakapiripirit settlement, were armed with AK-47 rifles. In two waves of destruction, they almost burned down the whole town, the parish included. Our people were unable to defend themselves. The match was uneven.

One day, a delegation of the leaders of the town (Catholics, Anglicans, followers of trad­itional religion) begged me to transport them to the home of their MP who lived some 40 kilometres away, which I did. They received from him, a few days after, around 30 AK-47 rifles and ammunition.
The result was that the constant attacks of our neighbours of the mountain ceased ­dramatically! They knew that the match had become more even. Happily Nakapiripirit has now developed into a rather prosperous district in the Karamoja region.

(Fr) René Brossard, M.Afr., Fribourg, Switzerland