3291: Crimewatch: Preventing Cattle Raiding Through Community Responsibility

This episode of Crimewatch focused on the shared responsibility of preventing cattle raiding in communities. Host Irene Lasso spoke with Diana Nakato and Bashir Ssempala from the UNMISS UNPOL Anti-Cattle Raiding Specialised Police Team, along with First Lieutenant Franco Akot Akot from the National Police Service. The discussion explained how cattle raiding, once linked to tradition, bride price, and rites of passage, has now become a serious crime involving firearms, revenge attacks, displacement, economic loss, and sexual violence. The guests stressed that prevention is not only the duty of police or government, but also the responsibility of parents, youth, elders, women, spiritual leaders, chiefs, and local authorities. They called for stronger early warning, community policing, youth awareness, dialogue, and better coordination between communities and security forces to prevent raids.