Elephants Abroad and in the Room
Abstract
This paper is one of series of ‘mapping papers’ that seek to analyse data collected during the first phase of the Justice and Security Research Programme (JSRP). It should be read in conjunction with the companion paper JSRP 23 by Ryan O’Byrne which presents data from the South Sudan side of the border in Pajok Payam. In northern Uganda two locations within the Acholi Sub-region were selected as survey sites, the villages of Elegu and Ngomoromo. In each case, the ‘village’ consists of a trading centre as well as scattered homesteads in the adjacent rural land. Both sites, lying directly on the border with S. Sudan, offer deeply complex public authority environments and are affected by internal as well as international tensions. Elegu, in Bibia Parish, lies on the principle trade route between South Sudan and the rest of the world - the Juba-Kampala highway; while Ngomoromo, in Licwa Parish,was chosen as a research site since it lies on the route from Uganda to Pajok in South Sudan, a focus of related JSRP work as well as a minor trade route. Although no more than 60 km apart as the crow flies (but substantially more by road), different pictures of local perspectives on threats to security and on sources of public authority emerged