TRAINS TO UGANDA RESUME
Posted on 08 May 2009
Rail transport to Uganda and other countries in the Great Lakes region resumed at the end of April, once engineers of Rift Valley Railways (RVR) completed repairs to the railway in Kibera near Nairobi. The track was uprooted on 15 April by rioting youths in protest at what they called Uganda’s continued occupation of Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. Subsequent attempts to effect repairs were blocked by the protesters for ten days. RVR public relations officer Judy Achar was quoted saying: ”With this latest disruption, RVR has suffered losses running into millions.” Disruption of the railway paralysed operations between Kenya and Uganda, with over 180 wagons from Mombasa grounded in Nairobi. Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited Kibera on 19 April, appealing to residents to maintain peace while the government sought a solution to the Migingo dispute. The protesters accused the government of laxity in dealing with the problem. ”Let us give them two months instead of uprooting the railway which will not bring back Migingo,” Odinga was quoted saying, adding that he would meet Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni in Kampala to discuss the issue.
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Tags | Rift Valley Railways
