Acholi people

Acholi

Acholi children in an IDP camp in Kitgum, 2005
Total population
Approximately 1.2 million
Regions with significant populations
Uganda South Sudan
Languages
Acholi
Religion
Christianity Islam, traditional African religion
Related ethnic groups
Luo

Acholi (also Acoli) is an ethnic group from the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, and Pader in Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), and Magwe County in South Sudan. Approximately 1.17 million Acholi were counted in the Uganda census of 2002, and 45,000 more were living in South Sudan in 2000.

Language

Main article: Acholi language

The Acholi language is a Western Nilotic language, classified as Luo, and is mutually intelligible with Lango and other Luo languages.

The Song of Lawino, one of the most successful African literary works, was written by Okot p'Bitek in Acholi, and later translated to English.

Location

Acholiland, Uganda

Acholiland or "Acholi-land" (also known as Acholi sub-region) is an inexact term that refers to the region traditionally inhabited by the Acholi. It is composed of the present-day Ugandan districts of Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader, as well as the newly created districts of Amuru, Nwoya, Lamwo and Agago. It encompasses approximately eleven thousand square miles near the Uganda-Sudan border. Its current population is estimated to be around 600,000 individuals or 4% of the total national population. While Acholi also live north of the Sudanese border, the Sudanese Acholi are often excluded from the political meaning of the term "Acholiland".

History

See also: Luo

The Acholi are a Luo people, who are said to have come to northern Uganda from the area now known as Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan. Starting in the late seventeenth century, a new sociopolitical order developed among the Luo of northern Uganda, mainly characterized by the formation of chiefdoms headed by Rwodi (sg. Rwot, 'ruler'). By the mid-nineteenth century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland. During the second half of the nineteenth century Arabic-speaking traders from the north started to call them Shooli, a term which transformed into 'Acholi'.

Acholi family in the 1870s

Their traditional dwelling-places were circular huts with a high peak, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a sunk fireplace, with the walls daubed with mud and decorated with geometrical or conventional designs in red, white or grey. They were skilled hunters, using nets and spears, and kept goats, sheep and cattle. In war they used spears and long, narrow shields of giraffe or ox hide.

During Uganda's colonial period, the British encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the Baganda. In contrast, the Acholi and other northern ethnic groups supplied much of the national manual labor and came to comprise a majority of the military, creating what some have called a "military ethnocracy". This reached its height with the coup d'état of Acholi General Tito Okello in June 1985 (thus terminating the second regime of Milton Obote), and came to a crashing end with the defeat of Okello and the Acholi-dominated army by the National Resistance Army led by now-President Yoweri Museveni in January 1986.

The Acholi are known to the outside world mainly because of the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, an Acholi from Gulu. The activities of the LRA have been devastating within Acholiland (though they spread also to neighbouring districts and countries). In September 1996 the government of Uganda put in place a policy of forced displacement of the Acholi in the Gulu district into displacement camps. Since 1996 this policy has expanded to encompass the entire rural Acholi population of four districts, one million people. These camps have some of the highest mortality rates in the world with an estimated 1,000 people dying per week. As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. The majority of elected parliamentarians in the Acholi sub-region are members of the opposition.

Religion

Most Acholi are Roman Catholic, Protestant and, in lesser numbers, Muslim. Nevertheless, the traditional belief in guardian and ancestor spirits remains strong, though it is often described in Christian or Islamic terms.

Notable Acholi people

Acholi singer Geoffrey Oryema

• Joseph Kony, leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army
• Alice Auma aka Lakwena, spirit medium and rebel leader
• Betty Oyella Bigombe, current MP and State Minister for Water Resources in the Ugandan Cabinet (2011–Present).
• Matthew Lukwiya, physician at the forefront of the 2000 Ebola outbreak, which took his life
• Janani Luwum, former Archbishop of the (Anglican) Church of Uganda, murdered by President Idi Amin
• Norbert Mao, former Chairman of Gulu District Local Council V. Democratic Party Presidential Candidate in 2011
• Edward Otto, first Acholi licensed as a Barrister, Solicitor & Notary Public in Ontario, Canada
• Dr. George Otto, a family physician in Ontario , Canada
• Hilary Onek, Minister of Internal Affairs in Uganda (2011–Present)
• Okello Oryem, State Minister for International Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda
• Hon. Richard Todwong former presidential advisor and MP-elect
• Hon. Dan Kidega member of the East African Parliament
• Tito Okello, President of Uganda for six months in 1985 (though he referred to himself only as 'Head of State')
• Bazilio Olara-Okello, de facto Head of State for six months in 1985 and later Chief of Defence Forces
• Geoffrey Oryema, exiled singer
• Opika Opoka HS, Former Long serving Permanent Secretary, Currently Chairman of Gulu University Council
• Olara Otunnu, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and UPC Presidential Candidate in 2011
• Okot p'Bitek, poet and author of the Song of Lawino
• Akena p'Ojok, Former UNLF Vice President, Former UPC Member of Parliament and Minister of Power in Obote II Regime
• Betty Ogwaro, Member of Parliament, Minister of Agriculture and ForestryGovernment of Southern Sudan, noted International political activist
• Jeremiah Lucas Opira, National Executive Secretary of the UNLF, advocate for consolidation of national unity in Uganda
• Rwot David Onen Acana II, Acholi Paramount Chief
• Balam Nyeko, Professor of History, expert on history of Southern Africa
• Ogenga Latigo, former Leader of Opposition in the Ugandan Parliament (2006–2011)
• Opiyo Oloya, music writer, columnist with New Vision Group
• Abitimo Odongkara, educator and founder of Upper Nile Institute for Appropriate Technology school in Gulu, Uganda.
• Anthony Olanya Olenge, former member of parliament and deputy minister for culture and community development in the second Obote UPC government between 1980 and 1985

References

• Atkinson, Ronald Raymond (1994) The roots of ethnicity: the origins of the Acholi of Uganda before 1800. Kampala: Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970-02-156-7.
• Dwyer, John Orr (1972) 'The Acholi of Uganda: adjustment to imperialism'. (unpublished thesis) Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International .
• Girling, F.K. (1960) The Acholi of Uganda (Colonial Office / Colonial research studies vol. 30). London: Her majesty's stationery office.
• Webster, J. (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', Provisional council for the social sciences in East Africa; 1st annual conference, vol 3., p. 168-197.

External links

• South Sudanese Acholi community at Gurtong Peace Project
• Rupiny — A newspaper in Luo (Acholi and Lango)
• Sample of written Acholi from the Language Encyclopedia