By Patson Baraire

A United Kingdom registered Oil Company SOCO International PLC which has been exploring for oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo has shifted its base to Uganda due to insecurity in eastern Congo, occasioned by the M23 rebellion.

SOCO Operations Coordinator Linchenault Julien led a team from their company that held a meeting with Ugandan security officials at Savana Resort Hotel in Kihiihi Town council to agree on modalities that will be adhered to during a two-month period in which the company will operate from the Ugandan side.

An insider who attended a meeting on Wednesday said SOCO contacted the Uganda government to allow the reallocation of their equipment to Uganda as the war between the M23 rebels and the Congolese government forces intensified.

The move is based on a bilateral cooperation agreement signed by the DR Congo government and the government of Uganda on September 8, 2007 in Tanzania known as the Ngurodoto-Tanzania Agreement.

The document was signed by President Yoweri Museveni and his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila. It spells out an agreement on trans-boundary resource management and regularization of the cross border trade and minerals.