Rwanda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Olivier Nduhungirehe will lead a high level delegation to Uganda today for a second meeting to discuss the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Angola in August.
This second meeting that aims at easing growing tension between the two countries, was supposed to have been held 30 days after they first met in Kigali in September, but was delayed.
Uganda government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo, on Thursday said the meeting will be attended by Angola and DR Congo who are the facilitators to the Luanda agreement.
“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,” Opondo tweeted.
Today’s meeting set for Munyonyo will be attended by the delegations from Angola and Dr Congo who are the facilitators to the Luanda MoU.
Key on the agenda for the Kampala meeting is reopening of the two nations’ common border for goods and people.
The border has been closed since late February when Rwanda stopped its citizens from crossing into Uganda and restricted the entry of Ugandan goods into the country.
Business community and communities in both countries have suffered from the border closure.
Ugandan exporters are desperate to access Rwanda and Burundi markets.
Rwandan has run out of stock of popular Ugandan products especially beverages and foodstuffs, cement and consumables, with no adequate or in certain cases expensive alternatives.
Regional security issues are also expected to be on the agenda after Mr Nduhungirehe liked a tweet by Communication Advisor to President Kagame Yolande Makolo saying the dispute “has never been about ‘border tension.’
“Its always about Rwandans harassed, abducted, detained and tortured in Uganda. Its about Ugandan officials plotting with dissidents and terrorists to destabilise Rwanda,” Ms Makolo tweeted on Friday.
