Rwanda Uganda set date for pullback

Rwanda and Uganda say they'll begin withdrawing troops on Thursday from the city of Kisangani in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Ugandan chief of staff, General Jeje Odongo, said this was agreed at a meeting in Kigali last night with his Rwandan counterpart, General Kayumba Nyamwasa.

The two armies will each leave two-hundred-and-sixteen soldiers behind to conduct joint patrols until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers.

The presidents of Uganda and Rwanda agreed on a rapid withdrawal two weeks ago.

Their forces back rival groups opposed to the Congolese president, Laurent Kabila, and have clashed in Kisangani several times. Rwanda-backed rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy - the RDC - have vowed to stay on in Kisangani.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service