The presidents of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) have agreed to hold a face-to-face summit in two weeks to
discuss the tension at their common border, according to foreign
ministry sources.
"The summit will take place on the September 7 and 8 in the
Tanzanian town of Arusha," said James Mugume, the permanent
secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted by state-owned
New Vision on Sunday.
Congolese foreign minister Mbusa Nyamwisi flew to Kampala this
weekend to deliver a message from President Joseph Kabila to his
Ugandan counterpart, requesting for a direct meeting between the
two heads of state.
"My visit is a response to the visit 10 days ago by minister Sam
Kutesa, aimed at reinforcing our relations of good neighborliness.
Like the proverb says, when you turn your neighbor into a friend,
you can sleep with your door open," Nyamwisi said.
"But I also came with a message from Mr. Kabila. He asked for a
meeting between the two heads of state before September 15," said
Nyamwisi.
The objective of the summit is to build confidence, Nyamwisi
said. But he admitted it was also about reaching an agreement on
the common exploitation of the oil reserves in Lake Albert, which
is shared by both countries.
Earlier this month, Congolese troops attacked an oil barge
belonging to Canadian-based Heritage Oil near the tiny Rukwanzi
Island, killing a British oil worker. A week earlier, the Congolese
army captured four Ugandan soldiers at the same place, accusing
them of illegally entering their waters.
"We have made an agreement over the sharing of oil reserves with
Angola. We will do the same with Uganda. It is even an opportunity
for us to work together," Nyamwisi said.
He called the recent incidents "unfortunate" and "regrettable"
which would not happen again. "We don't want them to be repeated.
We are very much aware that we need to stabilize the situation. We
need to move forward, not backward. And I know the President is
also convinced of that."
A border commission is to establish the exact borderline between
the two countries based on the colonial maps, he repeated what his
Ugandan counterpart had said earlier.
"We are going to establish a commission which will determine the
borders. We have already called in Belgian expertise," said
Nyamwisi.
The commission would have to establish to which country the
disputed Rukwanzi Island belongs.
"But it is not about that little piece of land," he noted. "It
is about the wealth underneath it. As long as there was nothing, we
did not even know it existed."
(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2007)
