Kigali Meet Flops As DRC Boycotts
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The Monitor (Kampala)
December 10, 2004
Posted to the web December 9, 2004
Frank Nyakairu
Kampala
The highly anticipated meeting to quell soaring tensions between Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo has flopped after the Congolese delegation boycotted it.
The meeting under the United States tripartite arrangement was slated to take place today in the Rwandan capital Kigali overseen by the US African Affairs Deputy Secretary Mr Don Yamamoto.
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Government sources in Kampala told The Monitor yesterday that the Rwandan and the Ugandan teams did not meet.
The Ugandan team that flew to Kigali late Wednesday was composed of Mr James Mugume the Director of International Relations in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Deputy Director for the External Security Organisation Mr Robert Maso and the head of Uganda's Joint Verification and Investigation Committer Lt Col. John Araali Kasaija.
When contacted for a comment, Uganda's Ambassador to Kigali Mr Adonia Ayebare said.
"The meeting did not take place but the Ugandan team held informal consultation with the American who are the facilitators," Ayebare said by telephone.
Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Charles Murigande, was unavailable for comment.
Relations between Uganda and Rwanda have recently been strained by claims that Kigali trained Ugandan rebels and the recent clash between UPDF and suspected Rwandan forces in the border district of Kisoro.
It is not clear why the Congolese delegation led by Mr Antoine Ghonda did not make it to Kigali for the meeting.
But a letter from the Rwanda government to the UN accused Ghonda of contradicting himself on verifying claims that Rwandan troops were in Congo.
The letter dated Dec 8 was written by Rwanda special envoy to the Great Lakes Mr Richard Sezibera. It said: "The Joint Verification Teams met in Goma on 7th Dec.
It is surprising during the meeting instead of carrying out verification, the DRC has now decided that the allegations are and it is useless to verify and spend resources for something that is not actual," said a letter addressed to MONUC head in Kinshasa Mr Lancy Swing.
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Rwanda still denies that it has not deployed troops in its much bigger neighbor DRC though the UN Security Council and the UN monitoring body in DRC claim there is compelling evidence.
Rwanda President Paul Kagame threatened to send troops into DRC to attack Rwandan Hutu rebels who have who took part in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which many of them took part.
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