Kenya and Uganda will begin boundary demarcation in the latest bid to resolve row over the Migingo Island.
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma on Thursday said the new move follows a deal reached between Nairobi and Kampala during President Yoweri Museveni’s recent tour of Kenya.
“It is a technical process, to mark the boundary. Does it mean we are going to begin renegotiating boundaries? No. That is not what it means. Our commitment is to respect the boundaries inherited at independence. That is an immutable starting point,” Dr Juma told a press conference in Nairobi during the Ministry’s quarterly briefing.
“What we are talking about is really to re-clarify the boundaries so that people don’t claim what is theirs when it is not theirs either by omission or commission.”
The memorandum of understanding signed between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Uganda’s Museveni will seek to clarify the border, create more border points for legal crossings as well as provide guidelines on sharing resources that straddle the border, Ms Juma said.
A similar arrangement had been reached with Ethiopia and Tanzania, to help remove disputes over the border reach.
But between Ugandan and Kenya, the focus could be on how to resolve the Migingo Island issue.
Now in its 15 years of tiff, the one-acre island, closest to Kenyan shores in Migori County is rich in fish.