Uganda lowers flag on disputed island
The Ugandan flag flying on a Lake Victoria island at the centre of a dispute with neighbouring Kenya has been lowered in a bid to calm diplomatic tensions, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
"In keeping with the spirit of East African Community cooperation and integration, President (Yoweri) Museveni directed, after consultations, that the Ugandan flag be lowered on Migingo island," Fred Opolot said.
"The nerves of Kenyans should be calmed," he added.
Tiny Migingo island, whose 500 residents live amidst lucrative fish stocks, became the object of escalating rhetoric and tit-for-tat measures by the authorities of both states in recent months.
Migingo is much closer to the Kenyan mainland and most residents are Kenyan but Uganda has consistently claimed ownership and its security forces have been present on the island since 2004.
Tensions began to rise when Ugandan security began charging Kenyans residency fees.
Following bi-lateral negotiations near Kampala in March, Uganda and Kenya commissioned a panel of experts to consult colonial-era maps in Britain to determine rightful ownership of the island.
Opolot said the panel has returned from London and will reveal its findings in Nairobi this week. The two governments have pledged to abide by the panel's decision.
The 970-kilometre (603-mile) Kenya-Uganda border is poorly defined on water and on land.
The African Union has set 2012 as a deadline for all countries to survey and demarcate their boundaries as a way of avoiding future border disputes.
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