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Central Africa: Uganda, DRC to Redraw Border Over Oil-Rich Site
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The East African (Nairobi)
18 December 2007
Posted to the web 18 December 2007
Daniel K. Kalinaki
Ugandan and Congolese authorities recently met in Kampala in an effort to end a bitter dispute over an oil-rich island on Lake Albert that straddles the two countries.
Uganda's Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kutesa told The EastAfrican that they met to discuss the demilitarisation of Rukwanzi Island, the scene of deadly clashes between the two countries' forces earlier this year, and to redraw the borders drawn up by Britain and Belgium - then colonial masters of Uganda and DR Congo respectively - between 1913 and 1915.
Mr Kutesa said the meeting also discussed ways of dealing with the Lord's Resistance Army rebels who have set up camp in Garamba National Park in northeast DRC. DRC has denied Ugandan troops access to the LRA but Mr Kutesa said questions remain about the its ability to deal the rebel group.
"They undertook to give us their plan and we will look at it," he told The EastAfrican.
The two governments - whose diplomatic missions are manned by charge d'affaires in either country - were also expected to discuss raising the level of diplomatic representation.
The meeting came soon after leaders of the two governments as well as Rwanda and Burundi, met in Addis Ababa under the Tripartite-Plus umbrella, a US-sponsored effort to end conflict in the Great Lakes region.
The Ethiopia meeting was attended by Presidents Pierre Nkurunziza of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as DRC Interior Minister Denis Kalume.
The Addis meeting also discussed the security situation in northern Uganda and the ongoing peace talks between the government and the LRA, and warned that the talks "must not continue indefinitely."
Although an LRA team has been carrying out consultations in Uganda, the prospects of peace have been clouded by reports that LRA leader Joseph Kony has had his deputy, Vincent Otti, who was seen by many to represent the pacifist wing of the rebel group executed.
The meeting warned that if no peace deal is struck over "the next several months" there shall be "more forceful action as a region against the LRA."
It endorsed the DRC government's plan to disarm the ex-FAR militias accused of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, whom Kigali still considers a security threat.
The leaders agreed to ask the UN Security Council to pass a resolution establishing sanctions against the Ex-FAR, and also called for tighter border controls between Rwanda and DRC to stop the illicit movement of people.
The meeting also called on the UN peacekeeping force in DRC, Monuc, to support the government forces against fighters of the renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda, and pledged to ask the UN Security Council to authorise Monuc to carry out offensives against Nkunda's troops.
At the same time, the meeting gave Burundi's Palipehutu-FNL rebel group a December 31 deadline to start implementing the comprehensive peace agreement it signed with President Pierre Nkurunziza's government or face severe sanctions.
The FNL has refused to comply with the terms of the agreement it signed. Its leader, Agathon Rwasa, recently refused to meet a Tanzanian Minister over the impasse.
The meeting warned that unless the FNL returns to the fold, its members will face restrictions on movement within Rwanda, Uganda or Burundi, denial of refuge, as well as funding and arms sanctions.
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting warned that the government would freeze FNL accounts and assets, refuse to issue visas to FNL members, deny them access to the media, revive a most-wanted list of FNL leaders, arrest them and extradite them.
This comes on the heels of a UN Security Council report that accuses the FNL of recruiting and arming child soldiers, in violation of the Rome Statute.
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Officials familiar with the report told The EastAfrican that the report might lead to International Criminal Court indictments against Rwasa and other senior FNL officials.
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