The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
2 May 2008
Heads of state from the Great Lakes region would next month meet in Tanzania to address fresh security concerns, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.
This was the decision arrived at on Wednesday during talks between President Jakaya Kikwete and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni.
The two leaders held lengthy talks at the Entebbe state house on the Great Lakes region and the East Africa Community.
President Museveni chairs the Great Lakes Peace Commission and is deputised by President Kikwete.
President Kikwete, who returned to the country yesterday afternoon, passed through Uganda after witnessing the change of office bearers at the Africa Union Commission in Ethiopia.
Its outgoing chairman, President Alpha Omar Konare of Mali, handed over to President Jean Ping of Gabon.
A statement from the state house in Dar es Salaam yesterday said while in Uganda, Presidents Kikwete and Museveni discussed recent skirmishes in Burundi where rebel soldiers of PALIPEHUTU-FNL have waged an onslaught on the capital, Bujumbura.
"The two leaders also revisited the security situation on the eastern part of DRC and decided that leaders from the larger region hold a joint meeting next month in Arusha," read the statement.
President Kikwete was met at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam by top government officials. He will today embark on a five-day official tour of Singida region.
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