Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Ksumu City.
UGANDA appeared to have succumbed to heavy pressure mounted by Kenya on the need to have the dispute over Migingo Fishing Island in Lake Victoria resolved amicably.
This followed the recent harsh remarks by Kenyan leader castigating Kampala for having unilaterally seized the islands, which they knew were right on the Kenyan side of the border.
According to a statement released on Monday this week by the Permanent Secretary in the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs James Migume, the Ugandan Minister for Land and Housing Daudi Migereko flew into the Kenyan capital, Nairobi on Monday on a mission to meet with his Kenyan counterpart James Orengo to set up a joint technical team to tackle the issue.
The two controversial islands of Migingo and Ugingo, each measuring an acre and half in Lake Victoria, have been the subject of heated dispute between the governments for years, and most recently since 2008.
Experts from both sides will immediately begin work to determine the exact position of the border between the states using concessions already agreed upon by the leaders of the two nations.
President Yoweri Museveni and Prime Minister Raila Odinga had agreed that the survey be resumed in order to ensure continuity of the cordial relationship between Kenya and Uganda.
Kenya and Uganda together with Tanzania are the founder member of the East African Community an economic unit that also groups Rwanda and Burundi with its secretariat based in the Northern Tanzanian City of Arusha.
Both governments are therefore expected to take into account their commitment to the EAC and the relationship between the countries as the border survey gets underway.
Mugume said the technical team will initially work on logistical for the survey covering equipment and experts that could be needed in the survey work.
The experts will use the Kenya’s constitution of 1963, and Ugandan constitution of 1995 and an array of British colonial maps in addition to the physical survey to determine the position of the Uganda border. Kenya has been persistently protesting Uganda seizure f the two islands and hoisting of its national flag on the disputed islands.
When the dispute heightened last year the two governments agree to conduct a joint survey so as to establish and determine the ownership of Migingo Island, which was then one in dispute. Both governments contributed million s of shilling for the work. But the Uganda team pulled out and abandoned the work after the preliminary reports showed that Migingo was several meters inside Kenya side of the Lake Victoria waters, saying they were going to consult their bosses in Kampala, but never returned to-date. Kenya team continued with their work and completed their side.
At the same time Kenya MPs representing constituencies neighboring the lake have been pressing the government so hard, urging it to secure the islands by means of force, They consider Uganda’s action as an act of the declaration of war. But the government has been playing it cool insisting that there is other avenues f having the matter sorted out amicably.
President Mwai Kibaki has been in the forefront advocating for peaceful resolution of the conflict insisting that the government would use diplomatic means to resolve the issue, adding that Uganda was a friendly neighbor and big and reliable business partner.
But on June 1st this year while addressing a mammoth crowd which attended this year’s Madaraka Day anniversary at the Nyayo National Stadium, President Kibaki reiterated that Migingo and Ugingo Islands were in Kenya and therefore the property of the Republic of Kenya.
He repeated the same while addressing thousands of mourners in Ndhiwa constituency last Sunday during the burial of Mzee Michael Ojode Otieno, the father o the Assistant Minister for Internal Security Joshua Orwa Ojode at Ratang’a in Kwabwayi Central Location in Ndhiwa district only a few kilometers to the shoreline of Lake Victoria.
The Prime Minister Raila Odinga who also was among the principal speakers disclosed that Kenya would send a strong delegation consisting of the Internal Security Minister Prof.George Saitoti, Minister for Lands and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs James Orengo and others to tackle the issue with their Ugandan counterparts and seek for lasting solution.
But as the issue of Migingo was still boiling up, Uganda moved northward and seized another Island. This time it was Ugingo and posted more security personnel most of them marine police to protect the Ugandan businessmen and fishermen who moved in and began erecting houses on it.
On e morning early this month, a Kenya Army Helicopter made a reconnaissance flights flying low over Migingo while its crew were seen taking aerial photographs as the chopper circled over the tiny island. The next two days, Uganda moved in fresh men with heavy military equipment an even beefed up the number f its marine police from 10 to 40.
Kenyan fishermen and fish traders were not allowed to construct their houses on Ugingo, though the Ugandan traders could be seen cruising in speed boats to do shopping for building materials, particularly corrugated iron sheets and timber from Kenyan businessmen off-shore at Karungu Bay and Muhuru Bay. This is due to logistic problems as the nearby Ugandan trading center or town is ten hours voyage whereas it takes only one hour or less to reach the mainland Kenya.
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