Heritage Oil Denies Involvement in New Uganda Clash

Canada’s Heritage Oil Corporation has denied that its ship was at the center of a clash between Congolese troops and the Ugandan army on Lake Alberta, in which soldiers from both sides were killed.

The company has also challenged a UN official that its oil exploration vessel was escorted out of “Congolese waters” to “avoid increasing tensions” between the two nations and “to ensure the crew’s safety.”

Earlier, a Ugandan army spokesman said two Congolese troops and a Ugandan soldier were killed in clashes on the flashpoint border lake where oil was recently discovered.

He said the clashes erupted when a military ship from the Democratic Republic of Congo intervened as Ugandan soldiers were seeking the release of an oil exploration vessel impounded by troops from the UN mission in Congo.

In a statement, Heritage said its vessel was “within Ugandan waters in Lake Albert in the process of lifting cables to mark the completion of a seismic survey” when a UN patrol boat detained the ship and its crew.

The clash between border forces was a “separate, unrelated, isolated incident,” it added. “No employees or sub-contractors of Heritage were involved.”