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The Monitor (Kampala) NEWS July 10, 2003 Posted to the web July 10, 2003 By Kennedy Lule Kampala Germany has asked Uganda and Rwanda to stop all support for Congolese rebels. Dr Friedbert Pflulger, an MP and foreign policy spokesman of the German Parliament, told the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Ssekandi, that Uganda and Rwanda are (still) supporting Congolese militia in the volatile Ituri region. Mr Ruck Christian, another member of the German MP, and the acting Germany ambassador, Mr Holger Seurbert, accompanied Pflulger. But Ssekandi, who met the Germans at Parliament yesterday, denied that Uganda is still offering support to Congolese rebels and militia. "Government is committed to having peace in Congo. Our troops were withdrawn from Congo. May be it is some individuals but not the government," Ssekandi said. Pflulger, who begun his speech by thanking President Yoweri Museveni for liberalising the economy and bringing stability, insisted that they had received intelligence and reports from diplomats and journalists that Uganda supports Congolese militia. Our voters are asking why Germany for the first time has sent its soldiers to keep peace in Africa by assisting the French in Congo yet Uganda and Rwanda are undermining those efforts Pflulger said. On Tuesday the Germans met Rwandan President Paul Kagame and asked him to stop supporting the rebels. We were in Bukavu on Monday and we are going to meet the new government in Kinshasa to discuss peace he added. Uganda is linked to the MLC rebels of Pierre Bemba and PUSIC of Chief Kawa, a Hema tribal militia leader. Pflulger asked Ssekandi about the strength of Mr Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, but the Speaker declined to comment because he is not a military expert. He said that the German parliament had discussed Kony and would support efforts to bring the war to an end. Like you want peace in the north, eastern Congo demands the same from you Pflulger told Ssekandi. He said that Uganda would not have stability and peace or attract tourists and investment if the DR Congo remained unstable. |
