Migingo is a tiny 2,000-square-metre (half-acre) island, about half the size of a football pitch in Lake Victoria. In 2008–09 the island itself was claimed by both Kenya and Uganda. July 2009 a survey team found that the island is 510 metres (1,670 ft) east of the Kenya-Uganda border within the lake, a finding supported by openly available Google Earth imagery. Since 1926, territorial ownership of the island has been consistently shown on maps and in language on official documents as Kenyan. However, much if not most of the Ugandan protests revolve around the lucrative fishing rights, mostly for valuable Nile perch, and Ugandan waters come within about 510 metres (1,670 ft) of the island. In July 2009 the Ugandan government shifted its official position, stating that while Migingo Island was in fact Kenyan, much of the waters near it were Ugandan. The island had been claimed by the Ugandan government in 2008-2009 until 11 May 2009 when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni conceded that the island is in Kenya, but continued to point out that Kenyan fisherman were illegally fishing in Ugandan waters which lie about 500 meters to the west of Migingo, the Ugandan flag was lowered, Uganda withdrew its military troops, and agreed that all its police officers would leave the island. A joint re-demarcation line of the border was launched on 2 June 2009 to recover and to place survey markers on land, making delineation of the boundary on the lake more precise, with results released in late July 2009 confirming that the islands falls 510 metres (1,670 ft) on the Kenyan side of the line.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 20:36:24 +0000
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