Abducted American tourist didn’t take guards - UWA
Saturday April 06 2019
The park where an American tourist and his driver were abducted on April 2, 2019. Uganda Wildlife Authority says Kimberley Endecott failed to take along armed ranger as required. MAP | TEA
An American woman who was kidnapped with her driver at Uganda’s most popular wildlife park by gunmen failed to take along an armed ranger as required by the park’s regulations, according to a spokesman for the country’s wildlife authority.
Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35,and Ugandan driver Jean Paul were on a game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park when four gunmen ambushed their vehicle on Tuesday evening, police said.
An elderly couple also at the scene were not taken and raised the alarm. The kidnappers’ identity is not yet known.
“We have armed ranger guides to accompany tourists on a drive in the park, but these tourists went out on their own without a guard,” said Bashir Hangi, spokesman for the state-run Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Ms Endecott and the couple travelled to Uganda on March 29 and flew to the park in the country’s southwest the next day, the spokesman added.
Tour operators and authorities fear that the kidnapping could hurt the sector.
Police said the incident happened between 5pm and 7pm, when the four armed men ambushed the tourist van then used one of the victim’s number to ring their camp manager to ask for a $500,000 ransom. The police say no ransom will be paid.
A joint team comprising tourism police, the army and game rangers have been searching the vast park and have sealed off the Uganda- Democratic Republic of Congo border.
“We are still searching and we have several teams in the field,” Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga told The EastAfrican on Friday.
A security source said the police believe the kidnappers are no longer in the park and have widened their search to neighbouring districts.
They were however confident that the suspects had not yet crossed into DR Congo.
There is worry that the incident could affect the growing tourism sector, especially after recent heavy investments.
According to official figures, tourism contributed about $1.45 billion to the economy in 2017, and was the single highest foreign-exchange earner, contributing 23.5 per cent of total exports.
The country’s tourism budget has grown in the past two years from Ush16.4 billion ($4.3 million) to Ush29.5 billion ($7.8 million).
The government has hired PR firms to market the country in China, North America, UK, Ireland, Japan and German.
Minister for Tourism Professor Ephraim Kamuntu told The EastAfrican that the incident does not represent a trend.
“What happened is anything that could happen anywhere in the world even if it is New York or London. These are just a bunch of guys acting irrationally but generally our sites are secure,” he said.
Chairman of the Association of Tour operators Everest Kayondo said the “isolated incident” could have a serious effect on the country’s tourism sector.