Top officials from the Uganda People’s Defense Forces and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo gathered behind closed doors on Wednesday, seeking answers after a tense confrontation on Lake Edward.
The deadly clashes erupted on October 1, 2025, near the Rweshama landing site in Rukungiri District, leaving five people dead in their wake.
On Wednesday, a UPDF delegation led by Major General Stephen Mugerwa, Mountain Division Commander, and Colonel James Kasule, the Second Infantry Division Deputy Commander, met a FARDC delegation led by Brig Gen Mugisa Muleka Joseph, Sector Commander for the Northern Front in North Kivu province at the DR Congo side of Kasindi Port in Beni territory, North Kivu province, for a closed-door meeting.
Major Kiconco Tabaro, the UPDF Seconda nd Infantry Division Public Information Officer, says that during the meeting, the officials focused on enhancing joint security mechanisms and establishing regular coordination between marine forces operating on Lake Edward to prevent similar incidents in the future.
He also says the delegations agreed on several measures to enhance cooperation, including joint patrols on Lake Edward, regular security and fisheries coordination meetings, and sensitization of fishing communities along the lake’s shores.
Tabaro also says, “the delegates agreed that marine commanders meet regularly to resolve issues and strengthen cooperation between the two armies.
Yet, both armies kept the public in the dark about the attackers’ identities, their motives, and even whether any bodies were recovered or if the assailants survived.
Following the talks, Maj Gen Mugerwa presented FARDC officials with a cache of seized weapons and ammunition, promising that the attackers’ boat and its powerful engine would soon be returned to Congolese authorities.
Reports from the DR Congo side indicate that a group of Congolese sailors was on the lake near Kasindi Port in Beni Territory, North Kivu Province, when UPDF marine allegedly accused them of violating territorial boundaries. Reports indicate that the UPDF opened fire, killing four of them.
But the Ugandan army gave a different account, saying that UPDF soldiers deployed at Rweshama landing site in Bwambara Sub-county, Rukungiri District, had been alerted that Ugandan fishermen were being robbed on the lake.
On rushing to the scene, UPDF soldiers came under heavy gunfire, which killed Sergeant Johnson Muhindo, the commander of the response team.
The UPDF soldiers returned fire at the attackers, who were in a canoe.
During the exchange, the assailants abandoned their vessel and drowned in the lake.
The UPDF recovered a canoe that the attackers had been using, two light machine guns, five submachine guns, and a 25-horsepower boat engine.
The incident sent waves of fear through Lake Edward’s fishing communities, unsettling local businesses and residents at the Rweshama landing site.
This is not the first time a cross-border exchange of gunfire has occurred on Lake Edward. In July 2018, a Ugandan soldier was killed and two Congolese soldiers were injured in a similar incident.
While DRC authorities accused the UPDF of opening fire, Uganda maintained that its forces acted in self-defense after being attacked by unidentified armed men during a patrol on the Ugandan side of the lake. That exchange also claimed the lives of 12 fishermen.