Migingo verification exercise starts
May 05, 2009
A joint verification exercise to establish the ownership of the disputed Migingo Island on Lake Victoria starts tomorrow. The technical survey boundary team from Kenya and Uganda is expected to complete the exercise on June 1.
By Barbara Among
A joint verification exercise to establish the ownership of the disputed Migingo Island on Lake Victoria starts tomorrow. The technical survey boundary team from Kenya and Uganda is expected to complete the exercise on June 1.
“The Ugandan team leaves for Nairobi today where they will meet with their Kenyan counterparts and, thereafter, leave together for Migingo,†said Fred Opolot, the Government spokesperson.
He said Uganda’s technical team comprises qualified officials from the lands ministry, but did not give names due to safety reasons.
The team will use the Order-In-Council agreement of 1926, colonial maps and documents and the constitutions of both countries to guide them.
However, the demarcation exercise will officially be launched in Nairobi on Monday. The launch will coincide with a joint Kenya- Uganda ministerial meeting in Nairobi.
“The meeting will address negative public statements although that has gone down since Uganda lowered its flag,†Opolot said.
“There has also been no attack on Ugandan citizens in Kenya or Ugandan-bound trucks since then. The mood has changed significantly.â€
Uganda lowered its flag on the island on April 27 at the orders of President Yoweri Museveni.
Museveni and his counterpart, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, discussed the dispute during the East African Community summit in Arusha, Tanzania, last week and directed that the exercise be completed by June. The cost of the verification exercise will be shared by the two countries.
The Ugandan government has said it will accept the results of the remarking exercise.
A joint verification exercise to establish the ownership of the disputed Migingo Island on Lake Victoria starts tomorrow. The technical survey boundary team from Kenya and Uganda is expected to complete the exercise on June 1.
“The Ugandan team leaves for Nairobi today where they will meet with their Kenyan counterparts and, thereafter, leave together for Migingo,†said Fred Opolot, the Government spokesperson.
He said Uganda’s technical team comprises qualified officials from the lands ministry, but did not give names due to safety reasons.
The team will use the Order-In-Council agreement of 1926, colonial maps and documents and the constitutions of both countries to guide them.
However, the demarcation exercise will officially be launched in Nairobi on Monday. The launch will coincide with a joint Kenya- Uganda ministerial meeting in Nairobi.
“The meeting will address negative public statements although that has gone down since Uganda lowered its flag,†Opolot said.
“There has also been no attack on Ugandan citizens in Kenya or Ugandan-bound trucks since then. The mood has changed significantly.â€
Uganda lowered its flag on the island on April 27 at the orders of President Yoweri Museveni.
Museveni and his counterpart, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, discussed the dispute during the East African Community summit in Arusha, Tanzania, last week and directed that the exercise be completed by June. The cost of the verification exercise will be shared by the two countries.
The Ugandan government has said it will accept the results of the remarking exercise.