On August 21, East African media reported good news following an MoU between Uganda and Rwanda Presidents to end border tensions.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his counterpart Paul Kagame signed a peace deal in Angolan capital, Luanda, a truce facilitated by the host President Joao Lourenco and DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi.
In the agreement signed both Presidents the Ugandan and Rwandan leaders agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty and of neighbouring countries.
They also committed committed to refrain from actions conducive to destabilization or subversion in the territory of the other party or neighbouring countries and also eliminate all factors that may create such perception, as well as financing, training, and infiltration of destabilising forces.
The leaders resolved to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of the nationals of the other party residing or transiting in their national territories, in accordance with laws of their countries.
The pact indicated that the two countries will resume cross-border activities, including movement of persons and goods.
The presidents also undertook, in the spirit of Pan-Africanism and regional cooperation, to comprehensively cooperate in politics, security, defence, trade, and culture.
To implement these resolutions, the leaders agreed to establish an adhoc commission headed by ministers of foreign affairs and composed of ministers of internal affairs/Administration and heads of intelligence, to see this through.
Drama at a News Conference
Addressing the media, host President Lourenco congratulated Presidents Museveni and Kagame for making the signing of the agreement possible.
“The signing alone cannot replace the problem,” he said. “The solution resides in the political will of the leaders to take full commitment to respect what they have signed and we are very certain they will do that.”
Co-facilitator President Tshisekedi was also full of praise for the two principals, calling them “great Presidents” who had seen the need to end the conflict and consider the superior needs of their nations.
President Dennis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, who was chief guest by virtue of being chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, said the agreement was a reflection of well-known African traditions of solving problems through dialogue.
However, drama would ensue on question and answer session.
According to a diplomat who attended the occasion, the local media was anxious to ask Museveni and Kagame about their intention to close border without considering the social and economic consequences their decision would cause.
“A journalist directed a query to President Museveni on when the border would be reopened,” said the diplomat.
Museveni is quoted to have responded, “I have never closed any border.That question should be answered by President Paul Kagame.”
The diplomat revealed to this website that while preparing to answer, Kagame frowned his face, “I think he must have felt angry at Museveni for throwing him out to media grilling.”
Another diplomat added, “Kagame was literary quarrelling.”
Kagame’s media team later published his rant on social media as below;
“When you have an open border, you have goods and people. When you create a problem for people to move across the border from one side to another, then you have closed the border to people and goods. The MoU addresses all these matters very clearly and I don’t think we should be picking and choosing what we implement and what we don’t. If there are difficulties going on by trade not going on across the border and there are also problems when people can’t cross the border, when you have people who get arrested when they cross the border, that affects the movement of people, of goods and trade. We are going to address all these problems. By doing that indiscriminately, we will get where we want to be.” President Kagame remarks at the Quadripartite Summit after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding committing to regional cooperation and security.”
