HARDLY a week after the burial of three police officers were buried after being killed by Congolese soldiers, another fishmonger has been shot dead on Lake Albert.
Nebbi Resident District Commissioner Bessie Alijong has confirmed the occurrence and identified the deceased as Wathum Mundu aged 30 years a fishmonger from Dei B in Panyimur sub-county in Nebbi district.
Bessie disclosed that Wathum was shot dead by three plain-clothed armed men on Lake Albert from Congolese side under.
Last week Congolese soldiers killed three Ugandan police officers that had been patrolling the lake over illegal fishing. The deceased were Faruk Waiswa, Biral Obara, Moses Ochen and Bernard Isingoma.
According to police, the deceased were responding to an illegal fishing incident by Congolese nationals in Ugandan waters before they were ambushed and killed.
Uganda government through Ministry of Foreign Affairs, protested through a protest message to DR Congo government and the note was delivered to Kinshasa by the Uganda’s Ambassador to DR Congo, Maj. James Kinobe.
The policemen were killed while patrolling the Ugandan border on Lake Albert and their bodies taken to Bunia in DRC.
The outgoing State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Okello Oryem, warned that Uganda would defend itself against the Congolese forces if attacks on its citizens happen again.
Mr Oryem described the incident as “an abhorrent conduct” by the Congolese soldiers, saying they had put DRC on notice that a repeat of any attack may lead to hot pursuit by Uganda’s armed force to repel such attackers.
“A repeat of these incidents may compel the Uganda authorities to take self-defence measures to protect its citizens,” he said in a press briefing at Foreign Affairs ministry in Kampala.
Coincidentally, this incidents happens when teams from Uganda and DR Congo are set to meet this to discuss the recent unresolved killing of Ugandans. The continued killing of security personnel, businessmen and fishmongers is likely to see Uganda deploy on its boundaries with Democratic Republic of Congo to oversee security of its nationals.
