Piracy on the rise

last updated 8 January 2015

Lake Victoria

Armed Ugandan buccaneers have been threatening Kenyan fishermen in Lake Victoria in recent weeks, and have confiscated fishing tackle and boats. The Ugandans say the Kenyans are fishing in Ugandan waters—which could well be true, as Kenya owns very little of Africa’s largest lake. Former colonial power Britain arbitrarily drew national boundaries in the water when it was splitting up East Africa with Germany. Tanzania ended up with 51 percent of the lake, Uganda 43 percent, and Kenya only 6 percent. “The goddamn British were completely unfair to Kenya,” said government adviser William Ochieng’ in the Nairobi Nation. He has proposed a trilateral conference on use of the lake.