Uganda to increase energy supply to Rwanda

Uganda has agreed to increase the supply of electricity to Rwanda, under a 10-point accord reached on Friday to rebuild confidence and restore their once excellent relations. In a communique at the end of its two-day meeting in Kampala, the Rwanda-Uganda Joint Permanent Commission "agreed to promote the Mbarara-Gikondo double circuit transmission project as a regional one for the supply of additional electricity to Rwanda". The state-owned Ugandan newspaper, The New Vision, reported that "several meetings" had been held since 1995 on the expansion of the 132/110 KV Mbarara-Gikondo transmission line. "An official at the meeting said the discussions had been hampered by misunderstandings between the two countries," the Kampala daily reported. The commission also reviewed other areas of cooperation, including trade, industry and tourism; transport and communications; gender and women in development; public service and labour; health, border security and immigration; customs and finance; as well as agriculture and livestock. One of their other agreements was to establish a committee composed of representatives from Rwanda, Uganda and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees "to discuss and operationalise modalities for encouraging and promoting the voluntary repatriation of Rwandese refugees in Uganda". The Rwandan minister of foreign affairs and regional cooperation, Charles Murigande, and his Ugandan counterpart, James Wapakhabulo, led their respective delegations at the meeting.