ENTEBBE, July 11: A stowaway flew from South Africa to Uganda on the press plane accompanying US President George W. Bush on his visit to Africa and entered the compound where Bush met Uganda’s president, US officials said.

US Secret Service agents conducted a security sweep on the plane after the unidentified stowaway was detained and removed from the compound on the shores of Lake Victoria where Bush met President Yoweri Museveni on Friday.

“He did not have a credential. He did not have a passport. He has nothing,” said White House travel office official Curtis Jablonka.

He said the chartered United Airlines Boeing 747 carrying about 130 members of the press, White House staff and Secret Service agents had been “thoroughly swept”. The Secret Service typically provides security oversight for the delegation.

“There was no indication the stowaway came within sight of President Bush,” Jablonka added.

A reporter from the American Urban Radio network, April Ryan, said she encountered the man at the hotel used by the press in the South African capital Pretoria on Friday morning.

“He said ‘I’m going with you to Uganda’” said Ryan, who added that the man described himself as a reporter from Soweto but did not appear to have any credentials.

She said her press pass was checked prior to boarding one of the buses taking delegation members to the airport. An official stopped the man at the door of the bus but allowed him to enter when he said he was with the press.—Reuters