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Following a visit to the northeastern town of Kanyaboyongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last week, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (known by its French acronym, MONUC) determined that reports of fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers were "groundless".
A MONUC official told IRIN on Friday that two observer teams were dispatched to Kanyaboyongo to investigate allegations of a military build-up in the area and its vicinity. "No military build up was noticed by our teams (one from Goma and another one from Beni) nor was there any sign of fighting. But the situation remains tense," he said.
The official said that MONUC had received letters of complaint from two of the DRC's primary armed opposition groups in the east, the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and a faction of the fractious Ugandan-backed RCD-ML (Mouvement de liberation).
The allegations came at a time when relations between erstwhile allies Rwanda and Uganda were widely reported to be rapidly deteriorating. In an effort to defuse mounting tension, the defence ministers of the two countries met earlier this week in the southwestern Ugandan town of Kabale and pledged to resolve any conflicts amicably.
Rwandan Defence Minister Emmanuel Habyarimana and his Ugandan counterpart Amama Mbabazi agreed to put in place mechanisms for formal and regular contacts at all levels between the two countries. Both delegates also agreed that their presidents would on 6 Nov. in London discuss the continue discussions aimed at short-circuiting any hostility between their two nations.
Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have been strained since their armies clashed in the northeastern DRC town of Kisangani in 1999 and 2000.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
