Uganda protests killing of its uniformed policemen by Congolese army

By

Gloria Nakiyimba

The Ugandan government has protested in the strongest terms the killing of four uniformed Ugandan policemen by the Congolese army over the weekend.

This is contained in an official note of protest sent to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, on Monday.

Sergeant Faruk Waiswa, Coporal Obara Biral, Police Constables Moses Ochen and Bernard Isingoma were killed in the line of duty by Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, FARDC.

The incident happened on Saturday 21 May while the four men were on official patrol on Lake Albert in Uganda’s territory.

Uganda’s state minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem said that their bodies were taken by the DRC authorities and are currently being held in Bunia Hospital mortuary in Ituri Province.

Lake Albert is shared between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the western part of the country.

“The government of Uganda protests these unfortunate developments in the strongest terms” Minister Oryem told the media in Kampala during a joint press conference with Uganda police.

Uganda has made four demands in the protest note to the DRC through the Charge D’ Affaires of the Congolese Embassy in Kampala.

Uganda is demanding a full account of circumstances under which the incident took place, that officers of the FARDC responsible for the murder of the Ugandan policemen be brought to justice and appropriate compensation to the bereaved families be effected. Other demands are the immediate repatriation of the bodies, equipment and all the personal belongings of the victims.

Minister Oryem is also calling for the immediate joint implementation of the agreed mechanisms under the Ngurdoto agreement signed in 2014 to forestall the re occurrence of similar incidents.

“In view of the fact that this is a re occurrence of abhorrent conduct on the part of uniformed officers, the government of Uganda has requested that a meeting of security chiefs of both states be urgently convened to discuss the implementation of the Ngurdoto agreement” Minister Oryem said.

The government of Uganda has warned the Kinshasa government to refrain from using unnecessary force and other actions which injure the existing cordial relationship between the two countries.

Minister Oryem warned that a repeat of such incident may compel Ugandan authorities to take self defense measures to protect its citizens.

Uganda’s Inspector General of Police General, Kale Kayihura warned that such unnecessary killings must stop.

This is not the first time Ugandan police officers have been attacked by Congolese army. In May 2013 the DRC forcefully arrested seven Ugandan policemen on official patrol on Lake Albert from Uganda’s territorial waters and detained them in Kinshasa for a year. They were released in April 2014, but later that year still, a Ugandan policeman was killed by the Congolese soldiers.

Gloria Nakiyimba

Gloria has experience spanning more than five years in Journalism, particularly in field reporting, editing, newscasting and management. She is currently working with Capital Radio Limited [91.3 Capital FM and 96.3 Beat FM] as Head of News, a position she has held since 2010.

Gloria previously worked as the Kampala Correspondent for Radio France International [RFI] generating local story leads with international inference for RFI’s global audience. She also served as Political Editor for The Weekly Mail Newspaper as well as Online Content Editor for the California based Ugandan broadcaster KubutakaRadio.com.