copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-10-19): Migingo Island, a disputed territory roughly the size of a football pitch, is home to about 300 permanent residents. Both Kenya and Uganda claim it as their own, partly because fishing around the island is still very profitable, whereas the rest of the lake has experienced a dramatic reduction of fish stock due to overfishing, pollution and possibly climate change. Migingo Island is a tiny island in Lake Victoria, about half the size of a football pitch. It’s also one of the last places where numbers of Nile perch remain high; overfishing and pollution have led to dwindling stocks in the rest of the lake. This is one of the reasons why Uganda and Kenya continue to battle over its ownership. But a growing commercial interest in fish farming around the Lake could help ease tensions. [...] A child plays in front of her mother’s restaurant on Migingo Island, in Lake Victoria. Around 300 people live on the island permanently, despite it being half the size of a football pitch. It also has no school or day care. Both Kenya and Uganda claim it as their own, partly because fishing around the island is still very profitable compared to the rest of the lake.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-12-03): In Lake Victoria, the territory shared among Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, presents another territorial question between Kenya by Uganda. Uganda is claiming the 2,000 square meters of territory, the Migingo Island, and started making expressions of sovereign control around 2004. The Island and its surrounding waters have, however, been historically understood to belong to Kenya’s sovereignty. [...] Concerning current territorial questions facing Kenya, a display of weak legislative, diplomatic and defence posture on the part of Kenya, surround their determination in the country’s historical advantage over the territories in question. Historicallasy, Kenya has administered the Ilemi Triangle, the Migingo Island, and the maritime territory in the Indian Ocean. Colonial maps indicate Migingo being Kenyan, while colonial acts of ceding administration of Ilemi constitute effectivités as well as the establishment of a military post and deployment of the military by Kenya into the Triangle. [...] All of the disputed territories, have been historically administered or fallen under Kenya’s political jurisdiction. The Ilemi Triangle has been administered by Kenya since 1936, the maritime territory in the Indian Ocean being claimed by Somalia has been under Kenya’s sovereignty since 1979. 1926 demarcation maps according to preliminary findings of the 2009 Joint Boundary Commission, allegedly shows Migingo Island lying 500 meters within the Kenyan boundary. Kenyans have been inhabiting the Island since 2004. Kenya has the advantage to strategically deploy diplomatic and defense instruments to change the course of these disputes, and retain its territorial heritage at little political cost.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-01-05): Since the turn of this century, the island of Migingo – which is smaller than a football pitch – has been the focus of a dispute between Kenya and Uganda, both of which lay claim to it. Mick O’Hare explains [...] Okumu, who also worked on the recent border agreement between Sudan and South Sudan, says that "while the Uganda government maintains that historical records are not clear, Kenya’s position is the opposite. The Kenyans have even threatened military force to occupy the island." But contradiction and obfuscation seems to be the perpetual backdrop to the dispute. Backtracking on the military threat, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta suggested involving the International Court of Justice (ICJ) so confident was he of Kenya’s position. "And interestingly, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni made a statement that Migingo does belong to Kenya, but the water surrounding it belongs to Uganda," says Okumu. One might conclude the sparring parties are deliberately creating confusion.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-06-24): Uganda and Kenya have been arguing over who owns the small island, barely visible at the center of the map above. The dispute has been brewing over the last few years and has finally led to a joint survey that is being conducted this week by both countries with results expected as soon as this week (May 15th). As far as I can tell, the dispute comes down to whether the islands are East or West of the Western tip of Pyramid Island just to the South. Pyramid Island is referenced in the constitutions of both countries. From the Western shore of Pyramid Island, the border line continues North to another island. If the shores of Migingo Island are West of that line then the island is in Uganda, otherwise, they are in Kenya. I have drawn the islands as being just barely in Kenya as the most recent press and other descriptions seem to be leaning towards a situation where the island is in Kenya but the water just West of the Island is in Uganda. This would be ironic because the source of the dispute is fishing rights over the dwindling Nile Perch that are still in abundance around the island.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-03-09): Migingo is an islet in Lake Victoria, half the size of a football field. For most of its history, it had no significance. Recent adulterations to the lake’s water table in an age of climate change and to its biology in the Anthropocene age have altered the utility of the islet. It now sits atop the lake’s most fertile fishing ground and serves as a strategic off shore port straddling the water border between Uganda and Kenya. Uganda and Kenya dispute its sovereignty. Ownership of this microdot threatens bilateral peace and impacts regional security and economic development discussions. This article contextualizes the dispute from historical and constructivist perspectives, noting pre- and post-colonial problems of border demarcation and modern limitations of international law’s main tool to quite post-colonial border disputes, the principle of uti possidetis. The rhetorical embrace of formal legal documents and solutions to border disputes is contrasted with constructivist interpretations that present alternative pathways for dispute resolution—pathways that recognize territorializing temptations of states which may preclude or hinder negotiated settlement, and prospects for condominium or shared sovereignty, which may support cooperation in the face of looming degradations to the Great Lake and its catchment area. [...] The Migingo Island Dispute Between Kenya and Uganda, 42 Brook. J. Int'l L.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-13): The tiny island of Migingo on Lake Victoria has been at the centre of a territorial dispute between Kenya and Uganda for many years. The competing claims over its sovereignty have threatened to ignite the continent’s "smallest war" but they have also led to a diverse range of peacebuilding measures. [...] Further peacebuilding efforts followed when Kenya and Uganda struck a deal on Migingo in August 2016. According to this agreement, Ugandan security personnel would be allowed to cross over to Kenya for food and medical supplies and Kenyan fishermen would be able to sail freely in Ugandan waters. This deal was hailed by many as significant, fair and rational. Despite the earlier survey report indicating that Migingo is within Kenyan territorial waters, viable fishing is only possible within Ugandan waters. This is because the island and the Kenyan waters around it do not yield much fish, whereas the Ugandan waters do. This has led many analysts following the dispute to agree the dispute is simply "fishy" and not "rocky." However, both sides failed to put measures in place aimed at enforcing and sustaining this peace deal.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-11-11): - Contested territories - Area 0.002 km² - Density 65,500 people per km² Migingo is an island in Lake Victoria on the border of Kenya and Uganda. It is half the size of a football pitch, less than 2,000 square meters. Yet, with 500 inhabitants, it makes it one of the most densely populated islands in Africa and the world. It has its own restaurant, pharmacy, hotel and bars. In 2004 Uganda took control over the island and in 2009 it forced Kenyan inhabitants to obtain special permits to operate their businesses. Then the two nations got on the brink of what was considered to be the world’s ‘smallest war’. The dispute centers mostly on the fishing rights in the vicinity of the island, which is rich with Nile perch.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-29): This week, we welcome Jacqueline Namukasa from Uganda. After graduating from the Islamic Universtiy in Uganda, she started her PhD in History with the thesis Examining Territorial Conflicts in East Africa: A case study of Migingo Island conflict between Uganda and Kenya 1926-2009 at Makerere in 2018.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2011-08-17): Migingo is a small island in Lake Victoria measuring about an acre of land and is rocky with little vegetation. It was in fact little more than a rock portruding out of water before the lake started receding in the early 1990s. This explains why there were no settlements on the island until about ten years ago. Today, over 1000 people inhabit Migingo Island with about 80 percent of them being Kenyan. The reason why Kenyans are the majority is partly explained by the fact that Migingo is nearer to the Kenyan hinterland than to either Uganda or Tanzania. [...] The exercise, however, hit a snag in early July that year with reports that surveyors from two countries had differed on technicalities especially on the mode of erecting new boundary pillars and the perimeters to help in determining scientifically the westernmost points as described in the 1926 Order-In-Council. As a result, the Uganda team returned to Kampala for ‘consultations’. The Kenyan surveyors continued with the process of demarcation and in findings that were not officially announced, found that Migingo island was about 510 metres (1,670 ft.) east of the Kenya-Uganda border. A finding that seemed to support Kenya’s claims of ownership of the island.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Kenya (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-10-31): Finally, my first sight! After three days travelling, one-day negotiating and about 2.5 hours by boat, The Urban Detective gets his first glimpse of Migingo. Coming out of the water like a giant armour plated turtle, this rocky dome in the middle of Africa’s biggest lake is quite a view. In 2009 this tiny rock - which now inhabits hundreds of residents - almost brought Kenya and Uganda to war! Migingo – oddly enough ‘abandoned’ in Luo (West-Kenyan language) – has become one of the most contested and densely populated places of East-Africa. Welcome to (possibly) the most crowded island on the planet. [...] Instead of wasting fuel (Migingo is located 2.5 hours from the Kenyan Coast and about 5 hours from Uganda) fishermen started to settle on the island in the early 2000s! [...] Maybe the 1926 British colonial demarcations can help? No. Although coordinates show the island is in Kenyan territory, Uganda claims the Nile Perch is mostly caught in the nearby Ugandan waters. Tensions kept rising, which created a violent and hostile environment on Migingo.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-18): Migingo is a 2,000-square-metre (0.49-acre; 0.20-hectare) island in Kenya on Lake Victoria.[3] The island was the center of a low-level territorial dispute between Kenya and Uganda and is extremely densely populated.[1] Migingo is a main source of fish to the Kenyan people. [...] Much, if not most, of the Ugandan protests revolve around the lucrative fishing rights, mostly for valuable Nile perch,[2] and Ugandan waters come within 510 metres (1,670 ft) of the island. In July 2009, the Ugandan government shifted its official position, stating that while Migingo Island was Kenyan, much of the waters near it were Ugandan.[15] The island had been claimed by the Ugandan government from 2008 until 11 May 2009 when President Museveni conceded that the island is in Kenya, but continued to point out that Kenyan fishermen were illegally fishing in Ugandan waters, which lie to the west of Migingo.[16] The Ugandan flag was lowered, Uganda withdrew its military troops, and agreed that all its police officers would leave the island.[9] A joint re-demarcation line of the border was launched on 2 June 2009 to recover and to place survey markers on land, making delineation of the boundary on the lake more precise, with results released in late July 2009 confirming that the island falls 510 metres (1,670 ft) on the Kenyan side of the line.[13][14]
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-08-05): The Migingo Island Dispute between Kenya and Uganda 35 Pages Posted: 7 Aug 2016 Last revised: 5 Dec 2017 [...] Migingo is an islet in Lake Victoria, half the size of a football field. For most of its history, it had no significance. Recent adulterations to the lake’s water table in an age of climate change and to its biology in the Anthropocene age have altered the utility of the islet. It now sits atop the lake’s most fertile fishing ground and serves as a strategic off shore port straddling the water border between Uganda and Kenya. Uganda and Kenya dispute its sovereignty. Ownership of this microdot threatens bilateral peace and impacts regional security and economic development discussions. This Article contextualizes the dispute from historical and constructivist perspectives, noting pre- and post-colonial problems of border demarcation and modern limitations of international law’s main tool to quite post-colonial border disputes, the principle of uti possidetis. The rhetorical embrace of formal legal documents and solutions to border disputes is contrasted with constructivist interpretations that present alternative pathways for dispute resolution – pathways that recognize territorializing temptations of states which may preclude or hinder negotiated settlement, and prospects for condominium or shared sovereignty, which may support cooperation in the face of looming degradations to the Great Lake and its catchment area. [...] Keywords: Migingo, Scramble for Africa, colonialism, divided sovereignty, uti possidetis, effectivités, constructivism
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-10-22): Migingo Island: a rocky marriage between Uganda and Kenya [...] A rounded rocky outcrop covered with metallic shacks, Migingo Island rises out of the waters of Lake Victoria like an iron-plated turtle. [...] Nevertheless for over a decade Migingo has been a source of tension between Uganda and Kenya, who have been unable to decide to whom it really belongs. They were once pushed to the brink of what some said would have been Africa's "smallest war" over the island.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-02-24): Migingo Island, a minuscule African destination in the waters of Lake Victoria, is a place that defies expectations. This rocky outcrop, measuring just about half an acre, is home to a fluctuating population of around 500 people. The island's density is so extreme that it has earned the title of the world's most crowded island. Beyond its staggering population density, Migingo Island harbors many peculiarities that anyone outside of its immediate geographical context may not know. Before the 1990s, Migingo was underwater. Only when Lake Victoria started receding did the outcrop of today's Migingo Island see the light of day. [...] Travel to Migingo Island isn't for everyone. The island can be reached by boat from towns in Kenya or Uganda after a transfer to the nearby Usingo Island. Getting in touch with the Africa Fishermen Foundation can help you get your trip sorted. You'll likely have to negotiate with boat captains, talk to island authorities, and pass an interrogation with the local police. After all is said and done, you'll be one of very few foreign visitors to set foot on the world's most crowded island.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-12-06): For as far back as anyone could remember, Migingo was nothing more than an uninhabited pinprick on Lake Victoria. One of three small islands in the eastern waters that make up an island chain, Migingo is barely the size of half a football pitch. It measures about one-half acre or about two thousand square metres. [...] Some evidence suggests that Migingo was the generic name of the undifferentiated island chain which only later differentiated the two other islets. These are Ugingo, which lies 660 feet east of Migingo, and Pyramid Island, 2km south of Migingo. Ugandan surveyors claim that Ugingo is actually Pyramid Island, because it is shaped like a pyramid. This finding would put Migingo inside Uganda by a matter of meters. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was said to have suggested that Migingo was located in Kenya’s water but he claims he was misquoted. Even if this were indisputably so, much of the Kenyan catch of Nile perch may derive from illegal fishing activity in Ugandan waters.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-03): Migingo, a tiny rock island on Lake Victoria, in Kenya, measures just 2,000-square-metre, but is officially home to over 500 residents making it the most densely populated island in the world. Migingo Island covers less than half a football pitch but more than 500 people, according to the Ugandan police, live in less than 2,000 square metres area. [...] Migingo is technically located within Kenyan territory, but the Ugandans claimed that fishermen were fishing in Ugandan waters, just 500 meters off the coast of the island.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-02-18): Migingo Island: Africa’s ‘smallest war’ [...] Migingo island, Lake Victoria – A round rock crammed with corrugated metal shacks rises out of Lake Victoria right at the border between Kenya and Uganda. The deep waters that surround it are rich with fish. Migingo Island covers less than half a football pitch but more than 500 people, according to the Ugandan police, live in less than 2,000 square metres area.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-03-09): Migingo is an islet in Lake Victoria, half the size of a football field. For most of its history, it had no significance. Recent adulterations to the lake’s water table in an age of climate change and to its biology in the Anthropocene age have altered the utility of the islet. It now sits atop the lake’s most fertile fishing ground and serves as a strategic off shore port straddling the water border between Uganda and Kenya. Uganda and Kenya dispute its sovereignty. Ownership of this microdot threatens bilateral peace and impacts regional security and economic development discussions. This article contextualizes the dispute from historical and constructivist perspectives, noting pre- and post-colonial problems of border demarcation and modern limitations of international law’s main tool to quite post-colonial border disputes, the principle of uti possidetis. The rhetorical embrace of formal legal documents and solutions to border disputes is contrasted with constructivist interpretations that present alternative pathways for dispute resolution—pathways that recognize territorializing temptations of states which may preclude or hinder negotiated settlement, and prospects for condominium or shared sovereignty, which may support cooperation in the face of looming degradations to the Great Lake and its catchment area. [...] The Migingo Island Dispute Between Kenya and Uganda, 42 Brook. J. Int'l L.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-01-05): Uganda has argued, with possible justification, that the British who drew the border line specifically to ensure the Lake Victoria to Mombasa railway remained wholly within Kenya for administrative simplicity, made errors when naming Migingo and two other islands close by. It argues that the description of what is known today as Pyramid Island (because of its shape) better fits the island of Ugingo which actually looks like a pyramid. If Ugingo really is the "Pyramid Island" mentioned on the old colonial maps – rather than what today is considered Pyramid Island – then Migingo is actually in Ugandan waters, by just a few metres. In addition, Uganda insists it is in possession of other colonial maps putting Migingo on its side of the border although these have yet to be validated. Okumu, who also worked on the recent border agreement between Sudan and South Sudan, says that "while the Uganda government maintains that historical records are not clear, Kenya’s position is the opposite. The Kenyans have even threatened military force to occupy the island." But contradiction and obfuscation seems to be the perpetual backdrop to the dispute. Backtracking on the military threat, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta suggested involving the International Court of Justice (ICJ) so confident was he of Kenya’s position. "And interestingly, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni made a statement that Migingo does belong to Kenya, but the water surrounding it belongs to Uganda," says Okumu. One might conclude the sparring parties are deliberately creating confusion.
Claim: Migingo Island is a territory of Uganda (Migingo Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-12-03): In Lake Victoria, the territory shared among Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, presents another territorial question between Kenya by Uganda. Uganda is claiming the 2,000 square meters of territory, the Migingo Island, and started making expressions of sovereign control around 2004. The Island and its surrounding waters have, however, been historically understood to belong to Kenya’s sovereignty. [...] For instance, in 2004, Uganda deployed its military around Migingo Island, with the initial intention of warding of armed pirates preying on Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian fishermen in Lake Victoria. Migingo Island proved strategic to Uganda’s surveillance operations. After the Ugandan security forces had successfully rid the lake of armed pirates in 2004, they instituted taxes in Migingo Island in return for ‘security’. Uganda’s ‘security operation’ and the strategic importance of the Island, stretched Ugandan interests into declaring the ownership of the Island. Subsequently, Ugandan and Kenyan security authorities have scrambled for control over the Island, with Ugandan authorities pulling the Kenyan flag down. [...] Photo: Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. The Island has been the source of tension between Kenya and Uganda for a long time (Photo Credit: Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera)