Lango

The Lango (plural Langi) people live in Lango sub-region in the central area of Uganda, north of Lake Kyoga. Lango Sub-region comprises the districts of Amolatar, Apac, Dokolo, Lira and Oyam. The Lango population is about 1.5 million according to the 2002 population census.

Lango language, or Luo, is mutually intelligible with Acholi and Kumam, and related to other Luo languages of Uganda and Kenya.

History

Lango speak a Western Nilotic (Luo) language like their northern neighbours, but share many cultural characteristics with their Ateker (Eastern Nilotic) neighbours to the east. Some anthropologists assert that they are part of a group that migrated from Ethiopia around 1600 A.D. and split into two branches, with one branch moving to present day Kenya to form the Kalenjin group and Maasai cluster. The other branch, called Ateker, migrated westwards and entered Uganda from the north-east. Ateker further split into four groups to form the Karamojong, Iteso, Kumam and Lango. The Lango migrated further to the west, and there they encountered the Acholi, who they pushed northwards from the northern part of Lake Kyoga. Through prolonged interaction with the Acholi, Lango lost Ateker language and took up Luo spoken by their Acholi neighbours. Many Lango identify with the Luo, refuting the theory that they are Ateker.

Politics and violence

Lango have often been victims of the volatile politics of Uganda. The first Ugandan prime minister and two time president, Milton Obote, was a Lango.

Idi Amin

During the 1970s, state inspired violence by the Government of Idi Amin was used to decimate the elite of the Lango and their neighbours the Acholi.

Karamojong cattle raids

Together with the Teso and Acholi, the Lango have often been victims of attacks by Karamojong cattle-rustlers.

Lord's Resistance Army

The 19-year rebellion against the government of Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is behind a massive population displacement in the region. Rebels continue to attack camps for displaced people, burn homes, loot, abduct children, rape and kill, in a brutal campaign of violence.

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