Kagame assures Holbrooke on Lusaka

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has assured the UN Security Council delegation on the DRC conflict, which visited Kigali at the weekend, that last week’s fighting between Rwanda and Uganda - though deplorable - did not represent a threat to the Lusaka peace process. At a joint press conference in the Rwandan capital, both Kagame and Holbrooke indicated that the Kisangani problem was “an aberration” and should be handled separately from Ugandan-Rwandan diplomatic relations generally, the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) reported.

“The Kisangani problem is in DRC, not Rwanda or Uganda, and we intend to keep it there and solve it there,” RNA quoted Kagame as saying. A joint declaration by the Rwandan authorities and the Holbrooke delegation said Rwanda had expressed full support the facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, former Botswana President Ketumile Masire, and was willing to discuss the immediate release of all prisoners of war into the care of the ICRC. The two sides also agreed on the need to disarm, resettle and reintegrate in Rwanda members of the ex-FAR (Forces armees rwandaises) and Interahamwe, RNA reported.