Africa | Uganda | Activism

The Ugandan women who strip to defend their land

A group of elderly women in a village in northern Uganda did something culturally taboo to express their anger - they began to strip. In front of two government ministers, soldiers, policemen and hundreds of people from their community, they started removing their clothes. Off came their tops - then some of the women pulled down their wrappers and skirts so they were completely naked. "Lobowa, Lobowa!" they chanted, which means "our land" in the Luo dialect. Others remained seated, but showed support by wailing in unison with with the women as they stripped. The incident, which fo

Africa | Uganda | Activism

Angry women strip naked in Ugandan land dispute protest

Source: Pangea Today

A long-running district border dispute in northern Uganda took a new turn when a group of elderly local women stripped naked before two visiting ministers, in protest against perceived land grabbing. Members of the local Acholi tribe fear that a government plan to draw up new boundaries between the districts of Amuru and Adjumani will be the prelude to mass evictions, as happened in 2012 when over 6,000 Acholis were evicted to make way for a game reserve. The protest led the ministers to announce a postponement of the boundary demarcation exercise pending further consultations with inter