Report by Leo Odera Omolo

High powered Kenyan delegation arrived in the Ugandan capital, Kampala this morning as the negotiation on the contentious Migingo fishing Island kicked of earnest..

This come only a day after a Ugandan cabinet Minister was quoted in the local press as saying the meeting would only formalize Kenya,s consent that the disputed Migingo island was actually in Uganda territorial waters.

At the same time more than 400 Kenyan fishermen who were last week ejected out of the disputed Migingo Island in Lake Victoria by Ugandan marine police are reported be facing serious starvation.

The fishermen and their families have ever since been putting g up with the relatives in the villages around Muhuru Bay town on Kenya’s mainland. are reported to be facing serious starvation..

Leaders from Muhuru Division in Nyatike District said the families were now being supported by relatives and friends who appeared to have also run out of food grains.

A civic leader in the area Mt Thomas Makamba appealed to the government of KMenya and th humanitarian organization to help the starving families.

They claim, they lost fishing gears, fish, money and household when they were ordered expelled by Ugandan police last week for having refused to sign temporary immigration document insisting their unwillingness to do so due to the fact that Migingo is on the Kenyan side of the Lake Victoria..

And in Nairobi Kenya’s top military chief yesterday dismissed the disputed fishing island as “ non issue and a minor misunderstanding to be resolved peacefully, and which does not require military intervention at all..

Lt Gen Jeremiah Kianga, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) had said that the on-going territorial dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the one acre rocky fishing island in Lake Victoria is an issue for map makers to iron out not the sufficient ground for the two country to go full blast for convectional war..

“This is non issue as far as defense is concerned .It is a minor misunderstanding that can be settled quietly,” said the General adding “These are issues for topographers (map marker}

General Kianga comment come in the wake of pressure mounting on the Kenya army to repulse and eject Ugandan soldiers out of the disputed island. .

It also came amid fresh report that more Uganda troops have dramatically landed on the Island which is surrounded by fishing waters, and hoisted their country’s national flag and have since imposed certain stringent condition requiring immigration documents from Kenya fishermen working on the Island and fish traders visiting it provoking MPs representing the affected areas to call for military response.

The Thursday afternoon rare news conference by the top army chief in Kenya
represented a significant step for the normally secretive military and was in response to negative publicity it has received in regard to its recent conduct of operations in Mt Elgon in Western Province where it was accused of torturing and unlawfully executing villages when mopping up rebellious militia group.

On terrorist the top Kenya military man said no Kenya soldier have crossed the border as claimed by the Somalia based el Shabaab an al Qaeda linked radical Somali militia group

The Kenya top most soldier was speaking at the defense head quarter{DOD} in what looked like the first ever scheduled press conference between a Kenya Chief of the General Staff and journalist.

He was accompanied by the Vice CGS Lt Gen Julius Karangi . The Director of military intelligence Brigadier Philip Kameru also attended the rare news conference.

And as the delegation of five cabinet Ministers left yesterday for the tasks the Kenya government position is clear that the disputed fishing island belong to Kenya.

Observers,however. says the Kampala meeting puts to test the diplomatic and legal prowess of the team led by the Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula.

The other members of the Kenyan delegation includes Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang’, Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti, Lands Minister James Aggrey Orengo, Minister for East Africa Affairs Joseph Kingi.

The negotiation between the two countries is expected to be the toughest as the Kenya’s team consist of well three well accomplished lawyers,

Before departure for Kampala Lands Minister James Orengo was quoted as saying “the constitution and order causes of the two countries recognizes the fact that Migingo belong to Kenya.”

If the talks are handled well an amicable position may be reached, but if they fail the dispute has a potential to foil relations between Kenya and the land locked Uganda a country that relies on her neighbours for its essential supplies, exports and imports..

“There is no need to militarize the issue we have other avenue to address”, Minister Orengo said.

Migingo Island is located 15 Km of the mainland Migori district in south western Kenya, but it covers a distant of 250 km from the nearby by Ugandan Bugiri district in the country eastern region.

Local politicians and MPs from the affected regions along the eastern shore of Lake Victoria have urged the government of Kenya to apply economic sanction against land-locked Uganda including military blockaded of its exports and import from accessing outside world market through the Kenyan the ports of Mombasa. To force the belligerent Kampala regime out of the Kenyan fishing island it had seized

Meanwhile the chairman of Parliamentary and defense committees had accused Uganda of expansionism.

Adnan Keyan also blamed the Kenya government for laxity and inconsistency urging the delegation not to go to Kampala since that would be a waste of time and money..

.But from the Ugandan side, the Minister of State for International Relations Henry Okello Oryema was last night quoted by the Radio Uganda and media houses as saying the Ministers would be signing that both sides have agreed to open up using coordinator.

Report from Migori and Gwassi in Suba districts, which are located along the shorelines of Lake Victoria as saying that Ugandan marine police have now extended their day and night patrol and of all to fish landing beaches deep into Kenya.

The reports says Ugandan were all over the beaches bordering Migingo. They are taking the advantage of the absence of Kenya. It is like they have the country lake

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

– – –
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:24:27 -0700 [03/13/2009 10:24:27 AM CDT]
From: Leo Odera Omolo

Subject: KENYAN DELEGATION TO UGANDA IS LIKELY TO ENCOUNTER TOUGHEST TASKS OVER THE DISPUTED MIGINGO ISLAND