Museveni, Kagame to meet today in Nairobi
Presidents Paul Kagame (left) and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda on March 25, 2018. PHOTO | RWANDA PRESIDENCY
What you need to know:
- Ms Lindah Nabusayi, the senior press secretary to the President, said Mr Museveni will witness the signing of the treaty of accession by DR Congo to the East African Community, but she didn’t have any information on whether there will be a meeting on the sidelines in relation to the situation in eastern DRC.
President Museveni is expected to meet his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame and other regional leaders over security issues in eastern DR Congo in Nairobi, Kenya, today.
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta invited Mr Museveni, Mr Kagame, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania) , Mr Évariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi) and Mr Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo).
Ms Lindah Nabusayi, the senior press secretary to the President, said Mr Museveni will witness the signing of the treaty of accession by DR Congo to the East African Community, but she didn’t have any information on whether there will be a meeting on the sidelines in relation to the situation in eastern DRC.
“There could be side meetings but I can’t confirm this for now. The full programme is yet to be released,” Ms Nabusayi said.
This will be the first time Mr Museveni and Mr Kagame are meeting physically over regional issues since February 2020 when they met at Bunagana, a Uganda-Rwanda border, after Kigali closed it to Ugandan goods and people.
The border closure affected the transportation of Ugandan goods to Rwanda, Burundi and also DRC.
The Katuna border was also closed but reopened after the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Commander of Land Forces, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, visited Kigali and made commitments to ensure that Rwanda’s enemies don’t use Uganda’s territory to destabilise Kagame’s government.
Security operations
Uganda and DRC last year signed an agreement to have joint military operations in eastern DRC against the Allied Democratic Forces rebels.
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Rwanda too attempted to have a similar agreement at the police level with the Congolese government but it was rejected by security commanders and politicians in Kinshasa.
Recently, the DRC accused Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels that attacked Tshanzu and Runyoni, eastern DRC, near Bunagana border, which led to an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees into Uganda.
When M23 rebels attacked the same areas in November last year, the Congo government said they arrested Rwanda Defence Forces’ soldiers among the rebel ranks, an allegation Rwanda denies.
Rwanda Defence Forces statement then read: “It has been reported that an armed group believed to be ex-M23 rebels, on Sunday evening November 7, 2021, crossed into DRC from Ugandan territory where it is based, and attacked and occupied the villages of Tshanzu and Runyoni.”
Last week, the M23 rebels agreed to a ceasefire with the DR Congo troops, which Lt Gen Kainerugaba described as a good thing.
