Rwanda, Uganda meet again

The two leaders used to be close allies

By Helen Vesperini in Kigali

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, met on Thursday on the border between their two countries.

UK Minister Clare Short - playing peacemaker

The talks, mediated by Britain's International Development Minister Clare Short, were aimed at further patching up relations after a summit meeting in London three months ago.

It had seemed in November as if Rwanda and Uganda were on the brink of war.

Both leaders seemed relaxed at the talks now that the risk of conflict has subsided, but it remains to be seen whether the situation will continue to improve

Dispelling distrust

The talks at the Gatuna border post were briefly interrupted by a rainstorm which forced the leaders to head to a tent in Kabale, just inside the Ugandan border.

Rwanda and Uganda went into DR Congo as comrades-in-arms

In concrete terms, the two former allies discussed measures taken to dispel mutual distrust, notably Rwanda's suspicions that Uganda was training and arming Rwandan dissidents.

Uganda has harboured suspicions that Rwanda was doing likewise with opponents of the Ugandan Government.

The two governments have now pledged to try to resettle those dissidents in a third country.

Each party has visited suspected training sites in the other country with third-party observers in attendance.

History

The meetings and the verification commission have brought some difficult issues out into the open, but not all points of contention in the Rwanda-Uganda relationship are easy to discuss openly.

Many top Rwandan officials and army officers grew up as exiles in Uganda.

A good number of them fought alongside Mr Museveni in his various resistance movements before he came to power.

Uganda tends to feel it deserves credit for having helped Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front - when it was a rebel group - to attack and subsequently conquer Rwanda.

But the men who fought in the RPF ranks say that they do not owe Mr Museveni anything, given that they fought for him in Uganda prior to forming the RPF.