OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mwanza | Sunday 4.00pm.
PRESIDENTS Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda reaffirmed on Sunday a commitment to demilitarise the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Kisangani.
In a joint statement, read to the media by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa at the end of a one-day summit in the Lake Victoria town of Mwanza, the two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to a declaration they made on May 8.
“Specific components to the process of demilitarisation has been proposed,” the statement said following bloodshed between troops of the two countries, which back different rebel groups in DRC.
The communique said that the two presidents have agreed that next Monday, commanders of their army forces will meet in order to agree “on those details so that we can have a speedy realisation of that commitment to demilitarise.”
The leaders also reaffirmed their committment to the implementation of the Lusaka peace process for DRC and pledged to meet regularly to discuss bilateral issues in order to establish a great deal of confidence.
Saying that the meeting between the two presidents was “very good and extremely productive,” Mkapa told journalists that the latest agreement to delimitarise will mean that there will be considerable physical separation between the two warring armies.
Uganda and Rwanda have been close allies since 1994, when the former Hutu government in Rwanda collapsed and was replaced by Kagame’s regime. Kagame is a long-time associate of Museveni, and fought with him in a bitter guerrilla war in Uganda from 1980 to 1985.
But relations between the two states deteriorated last week after repeated clashes between their forces in Kisangani, where they support opposing groups of rebels opposed to Congo President Laurent Kabila.
Following the Kisangani clashes, Rwanda and Uganda have accused each other of massing troops along their common border.
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