Could this be another potential flashpoint in EA, or end of EAC?..
Uganda deploys troops over island row with Kenya
By NATION Team
Posted Friday, February 20 2009 at 22:05
The dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the ownership of Migingo island has taken a turn for worse after Uganda sent more security personnel to guard it.
Ugandas spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told the Daily Monitor that marine officials and anti-riot police were dispatched on Thursday to guard the island in Lake Victoria.
Kenyan police officers attacked Migingo and threatened to take over (the island). They came with guns and an assortment of items. We have therefore sent marine officials and anti-riot police there to guard the island, she said.
Thursdays incident is the second in five months that the two East African countries have clashed over the ownership of the island.
But Nyanza provincial commissioner Paul Olando dismissed reports that Kenyan security personnel had gone to the island in a bid to take it over.
Our security personnel went to Migingo on Wednesday to follow up on some intelligence information we had received and this was not the first time we were sending them there, he said.
He said the government had not posted the eight officers permanently since the ownership issue was still under discussion.
Mr Olando said the Kenyan security personnel, who had gone to the island and were later joined by the Migori district commissioner, Mr Julius Mutula, returned after a meeting with their Ugandan counterparts.
He denied that Kenyans had been arrested and detained by the Ugandan security personnel, adding that there was no tension between the two countries over the dispute.
But on Thursday night, Uganda increased the number of its security personnel from the usual eight to more than 100.
Kenya formed a four-man inter-ministerial team led by Lands minister James Orengo to address the conflict. The Kenyan and Ugandan teams hired a mapping firm late last year to survey the island.
A report compiled by the company was last week debated by members of the East African Legislative Assembly in Rwanda.
Islands owner
The objective of the meeting was to discuss the report, present the deliberations to the East African Community chairman Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and then determine the owner of the island.
In Nairobi, Internal Security minister George Saitoti said Presidents Kibaki and Museveni were in talks to resolve the dispute.
He said the two presidents communicated regularly and termed the dispute a small issue that would soon be solved. He also denied media reports that 12 APs had been arrested on the island by Ugandan soldiers.
MPs from the region have asked the government to boost security to protect the more than 1,000 Kenyans living on the island.
They said the Ugandan soldiers were threatening the lives of residents.
Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga and his Bundalangi counterpart Ababu Namwamba said the invasion by the Ugandans was affecting fishing.
Uganda deploys troops over island row with Kenya
By NATION Team
Posted Friday, February 20 2009 at 22:05
The dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the ownership of Migingo island has taken a turn for worse after Uganda sent more security personnel to guard it.
Ugandas spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told the Daily Monitor that marine officials and anti-riot police were dispatched on Thursday to guard the island in Lake Victoria.
Kenyan police officers attacked Migingo and threatened to take over (the island). They came with guns and an assortment of items. We have therefore sent marine officials and anti-riot police there to guard the island, she said.
Thursdays incident is the second in five months that the two East African countries have clashed over the ownership of the island.
But Nyanza provincial commissioner Paul Olando dismissed reports that Kenyan security personnel had gone to the island in a bid to take it over.
Our security personnel went to Migingo on Wednesday to follow up on some intelligence information we had received and this was not the first time we were sending them there, he said.
He said the government had not posted the eight officers permanently since the ownership issue was still under discussion.
Mr Olando said the Kenyan security personnel, who had gone to the island and were later joined by the Migori district commissioner, Mr Julius Mutula, returned after a meeting with their Ugandan counterparts.
He denied that Kenyans had been arrested and detained by the Ugandan security personnel, adding that there was no tension between the two countries over the dispute.
But on Thursday night, Uganda increased the number of its security personnel from the usual eight to more than 100.
Kenya formed a four-man inter-ministerial team led by Lands minister James Orengo to address the conflict. The Kenyan and Ugandan teams hired a mapping firm late last year to survey the island.
A report compiled by the company was last week debated by members of the East African Legislative Assembly in Rwanda.
Islands owner
The objective of the meeting was to discuss the report, present the deliberations to the East African Community chairman Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and then determine the owner of the island.
In Nairobi, Internal Security minister George Saitoti said Presidents Kibaki and Museveni were in talks to resolve the dispute.
He said the two presidents communicated regularly and termed the dispute a small issue that would soon be solved. He also denied media reports that 12 APs had been arrested on the island by Ugandan soldiers.
MPs from the region have asked the government to boost security to protect the more than 1,000 Kenyans living on the island.
They said the Ugandan soldiers were threatening the lives of residents.
Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga and his Bundalangi counterpart Ababu Namwamba said the invasion by the Ugandans was affecting fishing.
