A total of 19 Ugandans including one soldier were killed by warriors last month as the government is tackling the rampant cattle rustling by carrying out a disarmament program in the northeastern region.

Paddy Ankunda, the north east regional army spokesman, told Xinhua by telephone on Tuesday that the civilians were killed in road ambushes and cattle raids in Moroto, Kotido, Kaabong and Nakapiripirit districts.

"It's unfortunate that last month we lost 18 civilians in Karamoja killed by armed warriors. "We also lost one of our UPDF (Uganda People's Defense Force) soldiers that was killed by the warriors," Ankunda said.

In the northeastern districts, known as Karamoja, the army has collected 1,258 guns from the Karimojong warriors since last month as the ongoing disarmament continues.

Ankunda said in the same period, UPDF troops also recovered 370 heads of cattle that the warriors had raided in various parts in the region.

"We are doing cordon and search operations which are yielding fruits every day. We are collecting weapons from the warriors every day," he said, adding that the army is collecting an average of about 20 guns a day.

Meanwhile an unidentified number of armed pastoralists from neighboring southern Sudan have crossed into northeastern Uganda, according to the officer.

He said the army is in touch with the southern Sudan authorities to see how the pastorlists can be helped go back while warning them not to attempt carrying out cattle raids because they will be dealt with by the UPDF.

Warriors in this region have possessed huge amounts of small arms and light weapons, some of which were used in raiding cattle in neighboring communities even into neighboring northwestern Kenya.

Currently, the UPDF is carrying out a disarmament exercise in which it has collected over 10,000 guns among the estimated over 30,000 illegal weapons in the region since it began in 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2006)