In Summary
Last week, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said in
Parliament that Mr Kikwete had asked President Museveni to play the
role of mediator on the sour relations with Rwanda.
Dar/Kampala. President Jakaya Kikwete and
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame come face to face today in Uganda in their first
encounter since the raging diplomatic wrangle between their countries
began. They will converge in Kampala for an international conference on
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will host the
7th Extraordinary Summit on security in Eastern DRC at Munyonyo
Commonwealth Resort. But Mr Kikwete and Mr Kagame are likely to steal
the headlines at the conference with their encounter coming at a time
when the stand-off is at its peak.
The tension between the two countries started in
May and was triggered by President Kikwete’s appeal to Rwanda to engage
FDRL rebels in talks. Mr Kikwete’s suggestion at a meeting of the Great
Lakes countries, which met on the sidelines of the African Union summit
in Addis Ababa, did not go down well with Mr Kagame and other top
Rwandese officials. They link the FDRL with the 1994 genocide in which
over 800,000 people were killed.
Significantly, too, the two leaders are meeting on
the heels of a fresh row after Rwanda slapped a new transport charge on
Tanzanian trucks. The rise of the road toll fee from $152 to $500 is
seen as retaliation for the mass expulsion of thousands of Rwandese
citizens from Kagera Region in an exercise to flush out illegal
immigrants.
Mr Salva Rweyemamu, the director of communication
at State House, confirmed yesterday that President Kikwete would travel
to Uganda this morning. Uganda’s government-owned New Vision reported
last evening that Mr Kagame was due in Kampala last night. Mr Rweyemamu
said he would not speculate on Mr Kagame’s presence or his meeting with
Mr Kikwete.
Last week, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said in
Parliament that Mr Kikwete had asked President Museveni to play the role
of mediator on the sour relations with Rwanda. Mr Pinda spoke after the
Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, Mr Freeman Mbowe,
demanded to know what steps the government was taking to normalise
relations with Rwanda.
Mr Mbowe, who is also the Hai MP, claimed that
Rwanda had convinced other EAC member states to sideline Tanzania. He
pointed to recent tripartite meetings between Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda
on infrastructure, immigration and political federation.
Mr Pinda, who said Rwanda had over-reacted, told
Parliament that President Kikwete had reached out to Mr Museveni to
ensure that matters did not deteriorate further. He added, however, that
Tanzania does not believe it is being sidelined on EAC matters.
Efforts to establish whether President Museveni
would reconcile the two leaders proved futile as members of the
delegations kept their cards close to their chest. But University of Dar
es Salaam political science lecturer Bashiru Ally said there was a
likelihood that Mr Kikwete and Mr Kagame would use the opportunity to
iron out their differences.
“It is important that they meet for the good of
their nations and the EAC region at large,” Mr Ally said. “The two
countries’ interests are intertwined, so let us hope they will come out
of Uganda with good news.”
The DRC Summit was preceded by parallel meetings
of regional ministers of defence and a regional inter-ministerial
committee comprising ministers of foreign affairs from member states.
Members of the International Conference on Great
Lakes Region include Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, the Central African
Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan and Zambia.
source: Mwananchi
source: Mwananchi
