Date agreed for Kisangani withdrawal

Presidents Kagame and Museveni agreed the withdrawal

Rwanda and Uganda say they will begin withdrawing troops this week from the diamond-rich city of Kisangani in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Our forces will stay and the allies will leave

Rebel commander Jean-Pierre Ondekane

The Ugandan chief of staff, General Jeje Odongo, said he had agreed with his Rwandan counterpart, General Kayumba Nyamwasa at a meeting in Kigali on Sunday that the pull-out would start on Thursday 25 May .

"We have agreed that both our forces will withdraw to a distance of at least 100 km from Kisangani," General Odongo told reporters.

The two armies will each leave 216 soldiers behind to conduct joint patrols until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers.

Friends become enemies

Rwanda and Uganda troops back rival factions of the rebel movement that is opposed to the Congolese president, Laurent Kabila.

President Kabila wants speedy deloyment of UN troops

Troops from the two countries clashed in the Congolese city earlier this month leaving several people dead and many others injured.

It was the second clash since August last year when hundreds of troops from the two former allies were killed as they turned their guns on each other.

Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda agreed on a rapid withdrawal two weeks ago.

Rwandan-backed rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy - the RCD - have vowed to stay on in Kisangani.

"The headquarters of the (RCD) Seventh Brigade is there, [as well as] police and security services. We cannot abandon the town to MONUC (the United Nations observer mission). Our forces will stay and the allies will leave," said Jean-Pierre Ondekane, the military commander of the Rwandan-backed faction.