By Alfred Wasike and Amlan Tumusiime

The two oil companies working in Uganda, Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil, have vowed to continue with their operations despite the killing of their British contractor on Friday.

“There is no suggestion of abandoning the project,” Brian Smith, Heritage’s vice-president of exploration, told The New Vision.
“We are grieving the death of our colleague, trying to come to terms with what happened. We expect to resume our operations soon. It is only a matter of days.”

Carl Nefdt, a UK geologist, died in the early hours of Friday during a 15-minute fire-fight on Lake Albert. Nefdt, who was the party leader, had rushed to the rescue of his team, whose barge was surrounded by Congolese gunmen.

“We are first assessing the situation and working out a security plan together with the Government,” Smith said.

“We are going to deploy additional security before our people can go back in the field.”

He stressed that despite the incident, Heritage was still very comfortable about working in Uganda.

“It is incredibly unfortunate that one of our staff was shot dead and we take this extremely serious. But we see this as an isolated incident. It has not been a blow to our confidence. We have received tremendous support from the Ugandan Government.”

The Government believes the attackers were members of the Congolese armed forces FARDC. Four UPDF soldiers were arrested by Congolese troops at the same point on July 29 for allegedly having entered their territory illegally.

Heritage has been accused of crossing the frontier. Hours before the attack, the barge was approached by Congolese armed men who told the oil workers that they were operating in their waters.

But Heritage strongly denies that.
“They don’t have the equipment to know,” Smith said.

“When we conduct seismic studies, it is vital for us to know where we are. The seismic crew has highly sophisticated GPS equipment. We are absolutely sure that the barge never left Ugandan waters.”

Tullow Oil, which partners with Heritage in some of the exploration areas, said they stopped their activities only for one day to mourn the death of their colleague.

“We stopped our activities for one day in sympathy for the loss of our colleague but we have not suspended any oil exploration activities,” said Elly Karuhanga, the President of Tullow Oil Uganda.

“We have been assured by the Government and we have currently three sub-contractors who are going on with the work.”

Tullow Oil, which also carries out activities in Congo, is in constant communication with the Congolese side, he added. “We are in contact with the Congolese side, where we also have operations,” Karuhanga said.

“Both sides are aware of what we are doing. Our top officials met with President Kabila and the Minister of Foreign Affairs recently and we plan to meet them again soon.”

Meanwhile, security sources said Congolese soldiers on Saturday patrolled the lake and fired in the air, forcing the fishermen to retreat to Rukwanzi Islands.

“Congolese soldiers came in with boats and told the fishermen who were laying their nets at night to leave the area, after which they shot in the air,” the source said.

Defence minister Dr. Cryspus Kiyonga and army chief Gen. Aronda Nyakarima yesterday flew to Kingfisher oil well in Buhuka after having met security officials in Hoima.

The meeting chaired by Kiyonga, took place at Riviera Hotel in Hoima and was attended by the RDC, Martha Asiimwe, who is also the district security committee chairperson.

Kiyonga and his team later held talks with the King of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, Solomon Gafabusa Iguru.

The meeting took place at his palace in Karuzika.

A source, which attended the Karuzika meeting, said the King expressed sympathy for the oil worker and asked the Government to bring the culprits to book.

“We are going to investigate the incident up to its conclusion and the killers must be found,” Kiyonga told journalists before boarding a military helicopter to Kingfisher.

On Saturday the area MP, Tom Kyahurwenda, issued a statement on the local FM radio stations, saying the attack was carried out by the Congolese armed forces.

“I am appealing to my people, especially those along the lake shores, to remain calm because the Government has put enough security in the area,” he added.

A meeting is expected to take place today with the commander of eastern Congo, most probably at Rukwanzi Island.

Three days after the incident, there is still no official word from the Congolese government, despite a protest note sent to Kinshasa on Friday through the Congolese embassy in Kampala. The Charge d’Affaires at the Ugandan embassy in DRC, Charles Wagaba, said the media in Kinshasa were churning out stories alleging it was the UPDF and the oil prospectors who had strayed into Congolese waters.

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