Bilateral relations improving

Uganda and Rwanda have agreed to allow their respective armies to move freely in both countries, a Rwandan army spokesman told IRIN on Thursday. "It is a measure of confidence-building," Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Bosco Kazura said. "Anyone who wants to move from Rwanda to Uganda and vice-versa can do so freely." The movements are, however, subject to notification and identification procedures. Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi held a five-hour meeting in Kigali on Sunday with his Rwandan counterpart, Colonel Emmanuel Habyarimana, The New Vision, the Ugandan government-owned newspaper, reported. A joint communique issued at the end of the talks said the two ministers had agreed to nominate military attaches in each country. The two had also agreed to exchange liaison officers in border areas, and that there should be regular contacts between the chiefs of military intelligence of the two countries, The New Vision said. Meanwhile, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are due to meet on Thursday in Katuna, on the Ugandan side of their common border, with a focus on improving bilateral relations. The visiting British Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short, the Norwegian minister for International Cooperation, Hilde Frafjord, and the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Eveline Herfkens, will attend the meeting. A press release issued by the Rwandan government quoted Kagame telling journalists last month that relations between the two countries had improved. "There has been good progress on how we have handled the issues that affected our relationship. With the intervention of the UK government, we have come together to discuss a number of issues and put in place mechanisms to follow up these issues and find out the truth about the allegations that have been made by both sides." Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have been strained since clashes between their respective armies occurred in 1999 and 2000 in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where both countries back rival rebel movements. Kagame and Museveni last met at Katuna in July 2001. They have since met in Lusaka, Zambia, in July 2001, in Durban, South Africa the following September, and in London, UK, under the facilitation of Prime Minister Tony Blair, last November.