Congolese head of state Félix Antoine Tshisekedi and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenço are determined to see Rwandan presidents Paul Kagame and Ugandan Yoweri Museveni come to terms. They will all meet in Luanda (Angola), Wednesday, August 21, 2019, as part of the sub-regional summit DRC-Angola-Rwanda-Uganda enlarged to the Republic of Congo.

This meeting follows that of July 12 in Luanda during which the commitment was made to reconcile the Rwandan and Ugandan presidents in cold weather for some time.

« Thanks to the good offices of Presidents Joao Lourenço and Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, their counterparts Paul Kagame and Yuweri Museveni will sign an act of commitment for peace between their two countries, » says a dispatch from the presidential press of the DRC.

The initiative of this sub-regional meeting goes to President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi who, in April 2019, brought his Rwandan and Angolan counterparts to N’sele. Since then, these sub-regional meetings have followed one another and multiplied.

Limited so far to the DRC, Angola and Rwanda, the subregional summit was extended to Uganda in July, then, today in Congo Brazzaville. The Head of State will be accompanied by his chief of staff Vital Kamerhe.

President Kagame has arrived in Luanda, Angola where he joins the host President João Lourenço of Angola, President Museveni, President Tshisekedi and President Sassou Nguesso for the second quadripartite summit aimed at strengthening regional security and cooperation. pic.twitter.com/O9nWAd7EfI

— Presidency | Rwanda (@UrugwiroVillage) August 21, 2019

As a reminder, the reciprocal mistrust between Kagame and Museveni, two allies of the 80s and 90s, when they helped each other to gain power, broke out when Rwanda decided to close its Katuna border last February.

The tension will go up a notch in March when Rwanda has publicly accused Uganda of kidnapping some of its citizens and supporting rebel groups determined to overthrow its government.

For its part, Museveni admitted to meeting Rwandan rebels, without providing support. He also said that the Rwandan citizens arrested were in fact spies.

If the verbal escalation that followed did not lead to conflicts at the border between the two countries, cross-border trade was impacted. The price of food has increased in Rwanda, which depends on its much larger neighbor for its imports. While Ugandan small farmers / farmers find it difficult to sell their products.

Agnes KAYEMBE