Museveni for Rwanda on Thursday

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is to visit Rwanda on Thursday, according to a Rwandan News Agency report on Monday, monitored by the BBC, this to be the first visit by the Ugandan head of state since the armies of the two countries clashed in Kisangani in northeastern DRC. Uganda and Rwanda back rival rebel groups in the DRC, something which regional analysts believe has caused differences between the two former close allies. “President Museveni will be visiting Rwanda on 21 September, and the details of the visit will be released soon,” the Rwandan government spokesman, Joseph Bideri, told IRIN.

A diplomatic source told IRIN that the meeting was to be a follow-up to the summit held in Kampala in June this year. “The main issues to be discussed are the war in the DRC, especially the formation of a common front by uniting the three Congolese rebel groups,” said the source. The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement Congolais pour la democratie (RCD- Goma) has already made contact with the Ugandan-backed Mouvement liberation du Congo (MLC). “The RCD-Goma sent a delegation to us early this month, and we are scheduled to travel to Goma later this month,” the secretary-general of the MLC, Olivier Kamitatu, told IRIN. Efforts by Uganda and Rwanda to unite the Congolese rebel groups were interrupted by the fighting between their forces.