Museveni Meets Kabila In Tanzania

Jul 04, 2001

DAR ES SALAAM, Wednesday – Presidents Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, whose troops back rebels fighting the Kinshasa government, met here for the first time Wednesday to talk about peace.

DAR ES SALAAM, Wednesday – Presidents Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, whose troops back rebels fighting the Kinshasa government, met here for the first time Wednesday to talk about peace. "This is just the beginning," a smartly-dressed Kabila told reporters at a brief news conference held after the unprecedented two-hour summit meeting. A Tanzanian official said Museveni and Kabila greeted each other inside State House with a warm embrace and handshake, and laughed together several times. They shook hands again later for media photographers. "We are going to have regular consultations and review implementation of the Lusaka agreement," Kabila said, referring to accords reached in 1999 by parties to the war in the DR Congo. Uganda and Rwanda back rebels fighting the Kinshasa government, which in turn enjoys military support from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. Host President Benjamin Mkapa said of the meeting, "There were frank discussions and exchange of views among participants." "The aim of the meeting was to make a follow-up on the Lusaka agreement and to ensure speedy implementation of the accord," added the Tanzanian head of state. "We discussed the security situation in the Great Lakes region and good neighbourliness," he added. Kabila said he was "happy with the meeting. As a far as I am concerned, implementation of Lusaka is on track. I believe all parties involved in the war will respect the Lusaka accords." Only the previous evening, Kabila himself was openly accused, by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, of reneging on these accords. "Interahamwe (Rwanda Hutu extremists) attacking Rwanda (from DRC) are being supported by the Kinshasa government and its allies, which constitutes a clear violation of the Lusaka (peace) agreement," Kagame told reporters. Uganda deployed troops in eastern DRC in 1998, along with Rwanda, to back rebels who launched an insurgency in August that year against the Kinshasa regime. In June, Museveni met DRC's National Security and Public Safety Minister Mwenze Kongolo in Kampala and received a "special message" from Kabila. AFP Ends

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