Uganda, Rwanda Border Row: Officials Meet in Kampala

By Kampala Post Reporter

A meeting between Uganda and Rwanda that should have taken place on October 17 as a follow up to the September 16 one in Kigali to ease the tension between the neighboring countries, takes place today (Friday).

“Uganda and Rwanda will tomorrow (Friday) hold a follow-up meeting at Speke Resort Munyonyo to the one held in Kigali in September to concretize the issues in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Luanda, Angola in Aug 2019,” Uganda government spokesperson, Mr Ofwono Opondo tweeted on Thursday.

Mr Opondo added that the meeting will be attended by --the delegations from Angola and DR Congo who are the facilitators to the Luanda MoU. According to Mr Opondo, all delegations have confirmed their participation through Uganda's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Following mediation by Angola’s President Joao Lourenco and the first meeting in Kigali where top government officials from both Uganda and Rwanda spent half a day locked in talks negotiating a path to normal diplomatic relations, Uganda agreed to organize the second meeting within 30 days, which elapsed on October 17 before it was postponed.

The meetings are meant to fast-track the implementation of an agreement signed in August by Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame in Angola, to end the two-year-long hostilities between the neighbors. Key on the agenda for the Kampala meeting is further discussions on the reopening of the two East African nations’ common border at Katuna.

The border has been closed since late February, and Rwanda stopped its citizens from crossing into Uganda and restricted entry of Ugandan goods into the country.

The Business community and communities in both countries have suffered effects of the impasse over the border closure. Some Ugandan businessmen have been shot dead by Rwandan security for illegally operating in their territory.