Museveni visits old foe Mugabe
2004-10-04 16:20
Harare - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni began a two-day state visit to Zimbabwe on Monday, easing years of hostile relations between the two countries.
Museveni will hold talks with President Robert Mugabe and meet government and business leaders to discuss trade and investment, officials said.
Zimbabwe and Uganda were bitter foes in the Congo civil war, where Zimbabwe's forces fought against Rwanda and Uganda-backed rebels fighting to overthrow the former Zaire government.
In 1998 Zimbabwe sent 15 000 combat troops, armour and air power to support the Congolese government against rebels and militia that were armed, trained and sometimes led by Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers.
Zimbabwean troops spent four years in combat missions in the eastern Congo, near the borders with Rwanda and Uganda.
Deployed
The last contingent was withdrawn last year as United Nations peacekeepers were being deployed in the mineral-rich country.
Though no official casualty figures have been released, hundreds of Zimbabweans died in combat.
The government acknowledged the bodies of many killed in action could not be brought home and were buried in Congo.
Museveni, garlanded with flowers, was greeted on Monday by Mugabe and groups of singers and tribal dancers.
The two men had bitter exchanges at peace talks during the Congo war.
Museveni last visited Zimbabwe in 1989 before relations soured.
Mugabe traveled to Uganda in June for a summit of a regional trade grouping that Museveni chairs.
Uganda has one of Africa's fastest growing economies. In contrast, Zimbabwe has one of the continent's fastest declining economies, with the fiscal deficit worsening sharply after the costly deployment of troops in the Congo.
- AP