A internecine war has been going on for years in North-East Uganda between two warrior tribes; The Karamojong and the Tepeth. It’s a war between the poor, between the poorest people on the planet. It’s a forgotten war. The Karamojong came here from Ethiopia in 1600. The livelihood and culture of these people depend totally on the number of livestock they possess. With the advent of automatic weapons produced by the “civilized” world, the fighting between these two tribes has increased dramatically. More than 50,000 Kalashnikov rifles are now distributed among half a million men that, having taken the place of lances, are used to raid animals and acquire easy money.
An Italian doctor called Giovanni Dall’Oglio has been working in karamoja for more than ten years with CUAMM, an association of doctors dedicated to Africa with the aim of trying to make these people aware of how absurd tribal warfare is. It was his idea to make a documentary film together with a few karamojong people committed to peace, to show in all the villages, hospitals and medical centres where he works, and where audio-visual material to teach health education is already in use. EKISIL was made for this purpose; the word means PEACE in the local language. It is an appeal to the world’s conscience, a message of hope that like the wind sweeps over Africa and beyond.
The theme of this film is the story of Lokol, a young Tepeth man, who becomes a school master and is robbed by the Karamojong tribe. However, he actually marries a girl from the opposing tribe called Namoe and in so doing unites the two peoples. The film shows tribal warfare in all its crude reality, but it also acquaints us with the everyday life of these tribesmen describing their culture, their beliefs and their strong family ties, but also the fragile equilibrium that dictates their destinies.