Troops from Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo have clashed on Lake Edward.
Four soldiers from Uganda and three other civilians were killed in the clash on Thursday.
An official from the DR Congo told AFP that a naval patrol from his country was “attacked….by a Ugandan patrol boat in Congolese waters.”
The official, Donat Kibwana says “The Ugandan boat sank and four troops and three Ugandan civilians are dead.
On the Congolese side, a soldier and a civilian have been injured.”
Kibwana is the administrator of the Beni region in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu said.
Lake Edward
Lake Edward lies between the two countries.
It is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Ugandan is yet to confirm the clashes and give its side of account on what happened.
But a Ugandan army spokesman, Brig Richard Karemire is reported by local media Uganda’s New Vision newspaper to have blamed the attack on “some gunmen who hurled a grenade onto our patrol boat”.
There have been clashes between troops from both countries in recent times.
This week 18 Congolese fishermen were arrested by a Ugandan patrol boat while fishing in the Lake.
The Congolese soldiers have consistently fought persons they deem to be rebels or militia fighters entering the country from Uganda and Rwanda.
Source: Africafeeds.com
