UGANDA: Missing Dutch Tourist Sophie Isabella Federica, Not Found Yet

The search for a Dutch tourist, who disappeared in Murchison Falls National Park last week, is still ongoing.

A team of Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers, police and UPDF have for the last six days been searching for Ms Sophie Isabella Federica, a medical student from the Netherlands, who went missing at about 7pm last Wednesday.

She is said to have told her friends she was going for a short call, a distance away from the Students Education Centre in Paraa, Nwoya District, but didn’t return.

Ms Federica is a volunteer at Rubaga Hospital in Kampala.


The search team says they have found a mineral water bottle Ms Fedrica had at the banks of River Nile, a few metres from where she left her friends.

At the weekend, a special team from the Civil Aviation Authority using a UPDF military chopper, together with special Police Marine Unit, and police dog section, combed a great section of the national park and River Nile in search for the tourist in vain.

Special technical teams from The Netherlands Embassy in Uganda and marine police are expected to join the team on the ground to continue the search.

Aswa Regional police spokesperson Patrick Jimmy Okema said that the security agents on the ground were making a thorough sweep through the national park.

“We cannot say the missing tourist is dead or not, it is still early. Our committed personnel are on the ground making sure she is found. We have got assurance that there is a special team on the way coming to backup those searching,” said Mr Okema.

Please read the previous story about Sophie Isabella Federica who is believed to have been mauled by a Nile Crocodile, here: http://tourismobserver.blogspot.ug/2015/10/uganda-dutch-tourist-goes-missing-in.html

UGANDA: Army General Dies On Emirates Flight

Uganda's interior minister died suddenly while traveling home from an official trip in South Korea, the government announced on Saturday.

Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, who was 56, died while transiting through Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said in a statement.

Nyakairima died early Saturday, according to Pamela Ankunda, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Nyakairima, who trained in the U.S. as a young officer, was "a dedicated servant of the people of Uganda and his death is a tragic and huge loss to the country," the statement said.

The cause of death is not yet known and a team of pathologists has been dispatched to Dubai to assist with the postmortem examination and repatriation of the body, said the statement.

Nyakairima served as interior minister since 2013. He had previously been the top commander of Uganda's military and was credited with helping to push infamous warlord Joseph Kony from Ugandan territory.

His death has shocked many in Uganda, where in 2013 he was cited in a letter by a renegade Ugandan general, David Sejusa, who said he was one of three senior public officials who risked being assassinated because they opposed the political rise of the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. That letter also mentioned former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, who has since announced he will challenge Museveni in presidential elections next year.

Nyakairima's sudden death will be seen by many "in the context" of Sejusa's letter, which asked Uganda's security agencies to investigate the allegations of planned hits, said Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a prominent Ugandan rights lawyer and political analyst.