Uganda beefs up marine surveillance on its waters

“What they [auditors] do not understand is that these boats were not for CHOGM alone, but for long term plans to improve our marine unit given terror threats and guarding national resources near water bodies,” said Peter Okoshi, Commander of the Police Marine Unit.

In March 2009, a plane heading for Mogadishu to take supplies to the soldiers on the Mission crashed into Lake Victoria shortly after taking off from Entebbe International Airport, and the government of Uganda’s first official communique on the matter stated; “We cannot rule out terrorism.”

One of the interceptor surveillance boats has been deployed on Lake Albert in the oil-rich Albertine Rift in western Uganda. Uganda has confirmed huge oil deposits in this area near the Uganda-DR Congo border, and the pace at which it is moving to start excavation has raised tension with Kinshasa.

Uganda and DR Congo have at the same time clashed over the ownership of Rukwanzi Island, currently being used for fish landing by both Ugandans and Congolese, but which could later be a strategic point in oil exploitation as it is in the vicinity of oil deposits.