President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said on Sunday that Uganda and Rwanda had agreed to share more intelligence as a means of avoiding suspicion and mistrust to lay a basis for improved cooperation.
Museveni met with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame who flew into the country for a one day working visit.
After a closed door meeting at State House Entebbe, the two principals addressed a joint news conference where Museveni admitted that the issue of espionage was discussed and resolved that the two countries exchange security intelligence as part of an upgrade to their diplomatic relations.
Last week, Museveni cancelled his Kigali trip to attend AU summit on trade with earlier reports suggesting the two nations had slipped into a cold war.
“We discussed that issue .The answer to that is close cooperation between intelligence services so that they get facts on each case,”Museveni responded when asked about the issue of suspected espionage by both countries.
The President recently revealed that the security apparatus had been infiltrated by criminals working for foreigners, he warned they would be dismantled.
“Security agencies should not be hijacked and should not start working for criminals. This is like AIDS which hijacks someone’s body.We can’t allow political AIDS where security agencies work for criminals, foreigners or anybody who is not Ugandan,”Museveni warned.
But after the Sunday meeting Museveni said all these problems had been brought about due to poor communication between the various stakeholders from both sides.
“There has been not enough coordination not only for intelligence side but even on development side like the railway and electricity. It seems people don’t use phones,” he observed.
President Kagame told journalists that, “there are so many things said or reported out of context. We have agreed to have concerned institution on both side to work and get to the bottom of the problems.”
“I emphasize working together more deeply to bring on facts to take the right decisions,” Kagame added.