Uganda's 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.
Thursday's 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.
Island's 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 Bundalang'i counterpart Ababu Namwamba said the invasion by the Ugandans was affecting fishing.
The two MPs, who made separate statements at Parliament Buildings on
Friday, said that the government must protect its citizens from
possible attacks.
I have information that at least three helicopters dropped an unknown
number of Ugandan soldiers on the island, said Mr Namwamba.
Mr Anyanga added that agitated residents of Migingo held the Migori
District Security team hostage and it spent Thursday night on the
island.
This was after the residents heard that the government had ordered the withdrawal of Kenyan security officers from the island.
Ugandan forces continue to dominate the island.
This in essence is a sign of negligence by the government on the people it swore to protect, said the Nyatike MP.
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