• Tanzania hosts Congo summit
  
• Rwanda declares ceasefire
  
• Ugandan withdrawal deal reported
  
• Sudan opens oil pipeline
  
• Kampala grenade attack kills two
  
• Saudi lifts Horn livestock ban
  
• Somalia reports Ethiopian rebel deaths

Tanzania hosts Congo summit

The Rwandan, Ugandan and Tanzanian leaders held summit talks in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday in a flurry of diplomacy aimed at settling the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzanian radio reported.

The meeting followed a ceasefire declaration by Rwanda last Friday and reports that Uganda has agreed to withdraw its troops from Congo territory.

Both countries, along with Burundi, have been supporting a rebellion against the government forces of President Laurent Kabila, which began last August.

Troops from Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Chad have backed the government side, although Chad now says it has withdrawn its 2,000-strong contingent.

Speaking on Rwandan radio after the talks in Dar es Salaam, Patrick Mazimpaka, an aide to Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu, said "some progress has been made," noting the moves made by Uganda and Rwanda towards peace.

Rwanda declares ceasefire

Rwanda announced on Friday that its troops would unilaterally end hostilities in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo at midnight.

Foreign Minister Amri Sued Ismail told a news conference that the ceasefire would be effective only if all parties to the conflict observed it.

Rwanda and Uganda are involved in the DR Congo war

"This unilateral declaration on the part of Rwanda is intended to enhance the chances of a negotiated and comprehensive ceasefire agreement," he said, in remarks broadcast by Rwandan radio.

The announcement comes at a time when the rebels are deeply divided and Rwanda and Uganda, their two main backers, have found themselves increasingly at odds over the conduct of the war.

But Ismail denied reports of friction with Uganda, saying the two countries were still on "very good terms," and accusing anyone who suggested otherwise of trying to mislead people.

Ugandan withdrawal deal reported

Uganda is reported to have agreed to withdraw its troops from DR Congo.

Congolese TV said on Saturday that "marathon" talks between the two sides in Kampala had resulted in an agreement to implement a peace accord signed in April with Libyan mediation.

"The two sides agreed to implement the Sirte accord rapidly," the TV said. "It was decided that a meeting of military experts and specialised services of the two countries would be organised as soon as possible, to draw up a plan for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops and the deployment of an intervention force."

Congolese Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo had pledged that extremist Rwandan Hutus would not be allowed to attack Uganda from Congolese territory, the TV said.

Assurances on the fate of rebels currently under Uganda's protection seemed less clear-cut, however, extending only as far as an invitation to a planned national debate at which "all the Congolese people" would be able to put forward their views.

The Ugandan newspaper The New Vision reported that President Yoweri Museveni had ordered the withdrawal of some forces.

Quoting a senior security source, the paper said military hardware and troops had been moved from the rebel-held towns of Goma, Bukavu, Kindu and Uvira to the Ugandan field headquarters in Kisangani.

Other sources reported a long convoy of troops and rebels entering Uganda through the Bunagana border post in the southwest of the country.

Sudan opens oil pipeline

Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir on Monday inaugurated a billion dollar pipeline in the central town of Hajlij, which will carry oil to the eastern port of Bashayir for export.

The pipeline opening ceremony

In a speech at the ceremony, quoted by Sudanese radio, Bashir thanked all the companies which worked on the extraction of Sudanese oil, particularly the Chinese, Malaysian and Canadian companies. "We give chances to those who want to cooperate with us, provided they respect Sudan and the dignity of its people," he said.

The first exports will begin from Bashayir on 13th June, the exact anniversary of the coup which brought Bashir to power. The pipeline has a pumping capacity of 450,000 barrels per day.

It will connect to a refinery in North Kordofan and another near the capital Khartoum.

Kampala grenade attack kills two

A grenade attack on a Kampala bar on Sunday night killed two people and injured 12 others, the Ugandan daily The New Vision reported.

Recovering from the grenade attack in hospital

The unidentified assailant hurled the grenade at the Liberty Bar in Nakulabye, an area in the north-west of the capital, usually crowded with revellers in the evening, the paper reported.

Kampala has been plagued by bomb and grenade explosions since 1997, in which dozens have died.

The paper reported that 30 people had been arrested in connection with recent bombings in Kampala.

They included Abdul-Rahman Abdallah, a Sudanese national who is a director of the Ahmadiya Muslim Mission - an international non-governmental organisation, the paper reported.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni accused the intelligence services of "laxity" by failing to stop the bombings.

"We have been able to deal with rural banditry, inflicting serious defeat on it particularly in the north and even the west," the New Vision quoted him as saying.

However, "bandits" had moved into urban areas, he said. "There has been a lot of laxity in the intelligence system, but I have pushed them and they are waking up. In any case, they have arrested some suspects," he told army officer cadets in Jinja.

Saudi lifts Horn livestock ban

Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on imports of livestock from Somalia and Ethiopia, which was imposed due to an outbreak of Rift Valley fever.

The Saudi embassy in Addis Ababa said the ban on imports of Ethiopian livestock was lifted on 16th May, Ethiopian Tigray radio reported.

The Somali newspaper Qaran reported that Saudi Arabia had also lifted a ban on imports of Somali livestock, imposed 17 months ago.

According to Qaran, the ban had also affected livestock imports from Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Somalia reports Ethiopian rebel deaths

A Somali militia has killed 20 Ethiopian Oromo rebel soldiers in south-central Somalia, the Mogadishu Times reported on Saturday.

A spokesman for the Rahanwein Resistance Army, RRA, said the Ethiopian rebels were supporting Somali faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid.

He added that the RRA would not stop fighting until it had captured Bay region.

Sources close to Aydid told the Qaran newspaper they had captured an RRA base in the area after fierce fighting on Sunday.