Drought forces Sudanese herdsmen into northeast

An estimated 2,000 armed herdsmen from drought-hit parts of southern Sudan have moved into northeastern Uganda in search of pasture and water, Ugandan officials said on Friday.

Members of southern Sudan's Toposa ethnic group are now grazing an estimated 65,000 livestock in a 15 sq km area of Uganda's Kidepo Valley National Park, according to Lillian Nsubuga, spokeswoman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

"Their weapons are superior and modern compared to those of our game wardens in the park. We are greatly concerned about the park," she said. "They were looking for water for their animals due to a long dry spell across the border."

Nsubuga noted that the herders had started arriving in the park in mid-December, and warned that the presence of livestock in the park could expose the wild animals to diseases.

She said one Sudanese official had come over to the park - at the request of Ugandan authorities - and had urged the pastoralists to leave. Although they had agreed to return home, she added, they had yet to do so.

Meanwhile, Kenyan police reported on Thursday that 38 people were killed on 13 January when herders, reportedly from southwestern Ethiopia's Dongiro community, carried out a cattle raid in Turkana district in northwestern Kenya.

Thirty of the raiders and eight Kenyans died in a battle between the invaders and Turkana villagers. The clash took place a day after a group of Dongiro raiders managed to steal more than 300 head of cattle from Turkana herders, according to Ernest Wasike, Provincial Police Officer in charge of Kenya's Rift Valley province.

A prolonged drought has caused severe food shortages in parts of eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that some 11 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are on "the brink of starvation".

Pastoralists are the worst affected and herder communities have been moving around the region in desperate search of pasture and water, even as their livestock die in large numbers.