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Ugandan Police officers arrested two IEBC clerks on Migingo Island Tuesday as they registered Kenyans living there as voters.
The police officers then took them to a police station on the Island for interrogation, claiming that the IEBC ought to have notified them of the exercise beforehand.
They also vowed to withhold their BVR machines until the IEBC office in Nairobi sends official communication about the exercise, Daily Nation reports.
However, according to Standard, Kenyan forces on the Island said they had informed their Ugandan counterparts before clearing the clerks to conduct the exercise.
After registering five people, the officer in charge of the Ugandan forces on the Island summoned them claiming that orders from above had cancelled the initial agreement allowing them to continue with the exercise.
Kenyans on the Island, who are mainly fishermen and traders, protested the arrests demanding their right to register as voters and saying they had already requested IEBC to send officials to register them as voters.
However, the standoff spilled into a bitter confrontation between the Ugandan and Kenyan forces, forcing the residents to run for their safety.
The clerks were released after one hour with orders to leave the Island immediately.
