Rwanda and Uganda hit new low

The two leaders used to be firm allies

Ties between Rwanda and Uganda have hit a new low despite efforts at reconciliation between the two former allies.

We are concerned that the two countries will take a long time to get back to a cordial relationship

Western diplomat in Kampala

According to the Reuters news agency, observers are concerned at rising tensions between the two Great Lakes neighbours.

The deterioration follows the publication this month of a letter in which Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni reportedly complained that Rwanda is preparing to attack Uganda.

Mr Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame met in July, pledging to improve relations which have been soured by their involvement in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But the mistrust has returned amid mutual accusations that the other country is backing dissidents fighting their respective governments.

Falling out

"We think the situation will not degenerate into full scale war," Reuters quoted a western diplomat in Kampala as saying.

Museveni reportedly complained about Rwanda to Clare Short

"But we are concerned that the two countries will take a long time to get back to a cordial relationship," he said.

Uganda and Rwanda were once the firmest of allies, with Uganda supporting Mr Kagame when his then rebel army fought its way to power in 1994.

However, they fell out two years ago, soon after both countries decided to back rebels fighting the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Despite being on the same side, rival political and business interests led to a series of violent clashes between their armies in the north-eastern Congolese city of Kisangani.

Relations between the two countries have never recovered.

Aggression

In the latest development, newspapers in Kigali and Kampala published a letter reportedly from President Museveni to British International Development Secretary Clare Short.

The former allies clashed in the Kisangani

"We have no doubt that Rwanda is planning aggression against us, either using proxies or even directly," the letter says.

According to Reuters, Uganda has declined to comment on whether the letter is genuine.

But the incident has set back a promised reconciliation, sealed at a meeting between the two presidents in the Rwandan border town of Gatuna in July.

President Museveni said at the time that Uganda no longer considered Rwanda as a hostile nation.

Tensions last reached rock bottom in March when Uganda formally declared Rwanda a hostile nation, ranking it alongside its traditional enemies - Sudan, and the Congo - with which it is at war.