Kampala — KENYAN Police yesterday engaged rioting youth in Nairobi's Kibera slums in running battles as they uprooted the railway line to Kampala protesting what they called Uganda's continued occupation of Migingo Island.

An unidentified person was injured seriously in Kisumu, a town near the Uganda border, and rail operations paralysed. The youth lit bonfires and barricaded the roads most of Wednesday.

Uganda depends heavily on the railway line for access to the Kenyan port of Mombasa for its imports and exports. The railway line also serves Rwanda, Sudan, Burundi and the DR Congo.

Kenyan government spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua yesterday said Kenya and Uganda were not at war. He accused the media of blowing the matter out of proportion and of inciting citizens to commit violence.

He said youth in Kibera were uprooting the railway line but the Kenyans would have to repair it. He warned against inflammatory language that may lead to chaos and hurt the economy.

Mutua was speaking at a joint press conference in Nairobi, which was also addressed by his Ugandan counterpart Fred Opolot.

The issue of the island, he said, would be solved diplomatically.

"As East Africans heading for a political federation, we want our people to benefit equitably from our resources not through issuance of inflammatory statements," Mutua said.

Despite his caution, seven MPs from the Lake Victoria region have asked Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to declare Uganda "a hostile neighbour" and forcefully take control of the island.

The MPs said the deployment of Ugandan Police on the island was demeaning to the sovereignty of Kenya. Led by Nicholas Gumbo (Rarieda), the MPs demanded that the navy and army be sent to the island.

They accused Kibaki of "taking the Migingo invasion lightly", adding that Ugandan authorities had continued to occupy the tiny island.

Prime minister Raila Odinga, who hails from Nyanza, said Kenya owns Migingo.

Asked for a reaction, foreign affairs permanent secretary Ambassador James Mugume, in a separate interview, said the issue of Migingo was technical, and not political.

Politicians, he added, were exaggerating the matter for political gain. "The solution is in marking the border which we are doing with them just as with Rwanda, DR Congo and Tanzania," Mugume said.

"Surveyors will determine where Migingo Island is," he said.

A team of engineers from both countries, he added, had been set up to handle the matter. In addition, the neighbours' ministers of foreign affairs and police and army chiefs had discussed the matter.

Both Kenya and Uganda claim ownership of the one-acre island in Lake Victoria.

But Mugume said the two presidents had met in Lusaka and agreed to resolve the "simple matter" by a "technical survey".

At the press conference, Mutua and Opolot assured citizens of the two nations that the issue would be resolved by May 15 when the survey team is expected to submit its report.

They said the neighbours would accept the outcome of the survey and that no fishermen would be harassed on the island.

Opolot said the Ugandan Government was concerned about media reports in Kenya that the UPDF had been deployed on the island and that the Ugandan flag on the island was tantamount to aggression.

He said only 10 Ugandan policemen were deployed in Migingo with the agreement of Kenya to maintain law and order. "A military solution is neither necessary nor desirable," Opolot said. "I am assuring the Kenyans that there is no Ugandan military near Migingo."

Opolot also dismissed reports that Uganda had imposed a curfew on the island, arrested Kenyans and impounded their boats.

Regarding the presence of the Ugandan flag on the island, Opolot said it was mandatory at every Ugandan Police post. He said the flag had been on the island since 2004.