Ugandan general, rebel leaders in talks

A Ugandan military delegation has been in Bunia, a town in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since Tuesday for talks with the Union des patriotes congolais pour la reconciliation et la paix (UPCRP). Radio Candip, a UPCRP-controlled radio, reported on Thursday that talks centred on the possibility of restoring the alliance between movement and Uganda. UPCRP Chairman Thomas Lubanga received the delegation, led by Maj-Gen Salim Saleh, who is the commander of Uganda's Reserve Force and army representative in parliament. The UPCRP recently entered into an alliance with the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma (RCD-Goma). The agreement, signed on 6 January in the eastern DRC city of Goma, committed the two parties to support each other in the domains of politics, the military and the economy. The accord cited a "convergence of points of view" between RCD-Goma and UPCRP, including the demand for the total withdrawal of foreign military forces from the DRC and the cessation of military support the Kinshasa government is allegedly providing Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe militias, as well as "other negative forces" in eastern DRC, as the rationale for the alliance.