The discovery of approximately twenty live explosive projectiles in Lake Victoria near Mbita Point raises broader security and governance concerns for the states surrounding the lake. Given the well-documented military history of the region during the Second World War, the presence of unexploded ordnance should not be entirely unexpected.
The Lake Victoria basin, particularly around former logistics hubs such as Kisumu and nearby transit routes, served as an operational corridor for Allied forces. Numerous aircraft accidents involving military cargo occurred in the lake, and historical records confirm that weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment were lost during these incidents. From a risk management perspective, areas with such a concentration of wartime activity should long ago have been designated for systematic underwater screening and ordnance clearance operations.
The absence of comprehensive surveys increases the likelihood that additional military materials remain on the lakebed, posing a continuing hazard to civilian communities that depend on fishing and transport. Beyond the safety risks to fishermen and lakeside populations, the discovery also carries implications in the context of contemporary security threats.
Armed extremist groups often emerge from local communities and are typically familiar with the historical narratives, geography, and hidden resources within their operational environments. It is therefore plausible that individuals within extremist or criminal networks are aware that the lakebed may contain remnants of military equipment from past conflicts. Such knowledge could potentially motivate attempts to recover or exploit these materials.
Militant organizations operating in the broader region, particularly those linked to the Islamic State affiliates, have significantly refined their use of improvised explosive devices. Both the ISCAP in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the IS-M insurgency in Cabo Delgado have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to construct effective IEDs using a range of available explosive materials. In both theatres, military convoys and security patrols have been targeted with explosive devices designed to maximize disruption and casualties.
In this context, the existence of military-grade explosive remnants within Lake Victoria raises an important strategic question. To what extent might such submerged munitions already have been recovered, repurposed, or integrated into clandestine supply chains supporting terrorism or criminal activities without detection?
The key concern is not only the discovery itself, but the uncertainty surrounding how much ordnance may still remain submerged and unaccounted for. Without systematic underwater surveys and coordinated regional monitoring, it is difficult to determine whether such materials have already been recovered in the past without detection.
For the governments bordering Lake Victoria, this incident highlights the importance of proactive security measures that combine historical awareness with contemporary counterterrorism risk assessment. Comprehensive mapping of suspected crash sites, underwater ordnance clearance operations, and coordinated intelligence sharing between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda would significantly reduce the risk that legacy wartime materials could be diverted into modern insurgent or criminal supply chains.
In a region where extremist organizations have already demonstrated growing expertise in explosive warfare, even small quantities of recovered military ordnance could have disproportionate operational consequences if exploited.
On 2 March 2026, approximately twenty live explosive projectiles were discovered in the waters of Lake Victoria near Litare Beach in Mbita Point, Kenya. The devices were recovered by local fishermen who initially believed they had caught a large fish but later realized the object was a container holding explosive ordnance and ammunition. Police and security authorities were immediately notified and subsequently secured the area, removing the hazardous materials for technical assessment. Preliminary identification suggests the devices are highly explosive projectiles weighing approximately 1.1 kilograms each, believed to be ammunition British PIAT’s (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) weapon system used by Commonwealth forces during the Second World War.
The discovery occurred in a geographically sensitive section of Lake Victoria that connects Kenyan fishing communities with nearby Tanzanian waters around Musoma, Tamire, and Mfangano Island, as well as maritime routes used by Ugandan fishermen. The lake functions as a major regional economic corridor where thousands of small vessels operate daily for fishing and informal cross-border trade. The unexpected recovery of live explosives therefore generated immediate concern among local communities and authorities due to the potential danger posed by unexploded ordnance in an area of intense civilian activity.
Historical context suggests that the presence of such munitions in Lake Victoria may be linked to wartime military activity in East Africa during the Second World War. During that period, the region surrounding the lake served as an important logistical corridor for Allied forces operating across the East African theater. The Royal Air Force base in Kisumu played a central role as a staging and transit hub where aircraft, military personnel, and weapons were moved between operational fronts and supply depots across the British Empire.
Several Allied squadrons operated from Kisumu, including ferry squadrons responsible for transporting aircraft and military equipment across long-distance routes. The base also hosted South African Air Force units, including No. 2 Squadron, known as the “Flying Cheetahs,” which conducted aerial operations against Italian forces during the East African campaign. The movement of military cargo through the base included weapons, ammunition, and other logistical supplies destined for operational units in Africa and beyond.
Historical aviation records show that several aircraft carrying personnel and military cargo crashed in or near Lake Victoria during this period. 19 December 1941, a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft operated by the South African Air Force crashed into the lake shortly after departing the Royal Air Force station in Kisumu while en route to Johannesburg. The crash killed all personnel on board, including Major General Daniel Hermanus Pienaar and several senior officers. The aircraft’s cargo was lost in the lake.
Additional incidents occurred during the final months of the war. 11 May 1945, a Douglas C-47A aircraft transporting weapons from the United Kingdom to the South African Air Force base at Waterkloof in Pretoria crashed into Lake Victoria shortly after takeoff from Kisumu. While the two pilots survived, the passenger drowned and the cargo of military equipment was never recovered. July 1945, two further aviation disasters occurred in the same region, including the crash of a Royal Air Force Consolidated Catalina flying boat during landing operations and another South African Air Force Douglas C-47A that crashed near Rusinga Island, killing all twenty-eight individuals on board. The weapons and supplies being transported in these aircraft were also lost in the lake.
Given these historical incidents, it is plausible that the explosive projectiles recently recovered by fishermen formed part of wartime cargo lost during one of these aircraft crashes or were disposed of in the lake following the end of the conflict. Some historical accounts also suggest that additional weapons may have been discarded in the lake as surplus military stock or lost during clandestine cross-lake movements by insurgent groups in later decades.
Although the devices appear to be legacy munitions dating from the Second World War, the discovery highlights the continuing risks associated with unexploded ordnance in historically militarized environments. Lake Victoria remains one of the most active inland waterways in Africa, supporting dense fishing activity and informal maritime traffic between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The presence of unexploded explosives in such an environment presents both a public safety risk and a potential security concern should such materials be recovered and misused by criminal actors.
For regional authorities, the incident underscores the need for coordinated monitoring and potential underwater surveys to determine whether additional unexploded ordnance remains scattered within the lakebed. Cooperation between Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan maritime and security agencies may therefore be necessary to ensure that similar discoveries do not pose a continuing threat to local populations and economic activity across the Lake Victoria basin.