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Beard gives 'woman' bandit away
20/01/2007 14:06 - (SA)
Kampala - Armed bandits hid their guns from the Ugandan military by dressing as women to conceal them under their robes, but the deception was foiled when a soldier noticed one had a beard, the army said on Saturday.
Ugandan soldiers stormed a town in the lawless northeastern Karamoja region on Wednesday as part of an ongoing "cordon and search" operation to disarm AK47-wielding cattle raiders.
Karamoja and neighbouring Kenya's Turkana district have long endured banditry and inter-clan warfare fuelled by cheap, readily available guns.
Army spokesperson for eastern Uganda Henry Obbo told Reuters that an aerial survey of the town of Lokopo had revealed gun-toting Karamojong warriors but, when an army unit arrived to disarm them, they found only women.
"The men had disappeared. We got suspicious," said Obbo. "At the same time, our sources said demand for women's clothes at the local market had shot up."
Like the Turkana and Masaai, the Karamojong are known for their warrior culture and colourful attire - men wrap up in chequered blankets and women wear kaleidoscopic dresses.
The army ordered all 20 "women" out of the thatched village on the outskirts of town but they were spared the indignity of being strip-searched after a soldier spotted that one had a beard, foiling the masquerade.
"It's not hard to distinguish women and men. Even if you put on a high-pitched voice, a beard is a giveaway," said Obbo.
He said the army recovered 30 guns and several heads of cattle looted by the warriors the previous night.
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