Kampala — PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Tanzania counterpart, Jakaya Kikwete, are to convene an urgent meeting to address the issue of negative forces operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The decision was arrived at during private two-day talks at State House Entebbe.

The venue and date for the meeting, however, are yet to be agreed upon. Kikwete left the country on Friday afternoon.

Eastern Congo is a hub for several rebel groups and the disarmament of these groups remains a major concern for the neighbouring governments of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan.

Groups such as the Lord's Resistance Army and Allied Democratic Front, which are fighting the Ugandan government, use the Congo as a base.

The Hutu militia, Force Armée Rwandaise, and the affiliated Interahamwe, fight Rwanda from the Congo.

Other dissident groups are Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the Congolese People and the Mai-Mai, composed of Burundian Hutu and Congolese.

Regional initiatives such as creation of a regional force and the Pact on Peace and Security have been put in place to deal with the negative forces.

The two presidents also noted with concern the renewed fighting in Burundi between the PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebel movement and the government forces.