'Uganda will not attack Congo'
2007-08-13 21:06
Kinshasa - Uganda will not send troops into neighbouring Congo in response to recent cross-border raids by unknown gunmen, a Ugandan official said on Monday to allay fears the violence could escalate.
"The Uganda army will not attack Congo territory, the Uganda army will defend against anybody who wants to enter the country'" Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesha told reporters in Congo's capital, Kinshasa.
Uganda has blamed two recent attacks on Congolese gunmen - either government soldiers or private militia fighters. In the first, a Briton was killed in an attack on an oil exploration boat operating on Uganda's Lake Albert.
Then late last week, dozens of gunmen fired on civilians and looted shops in a Ugandan town near the Congo border.
'No fighting at all'
Congolese officials have said they have no information suggesting that either group came from their country.
Kutesha said he aimed to seek a peaceful resolution of the dispute on his one-day visit.
"I'm here to make sure to make sure that there is no fighting at all. If the are issues they should be discussed," Kutesha said. He is set to meet with Congo President Joseph Kabila.
"As you know there have been some incidents ... but we don't want escalation of this," Kutesha said.
Congo Defence Minister Chikez Diemu said on Friday that there had been incidents of Ugandans crossing into Congo as well, resulting in a recent exchange of fire that left one Congolese soldier dead and a Ugandan wounded.
The mineral-rich eastern part of Congo, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, remains the most unstable area in the country, with violence breaking out regularly that often pits rival militias, including groups from neighbouring countries, against each other and leaves civilians dead.
Uganda occupied part of the region during a 1998-2002 war in Congo that engulfed six neighbouring countries.
In addition, Uganda's conflict with its own rebel Lord's Resistance Army has spilled over into Congo. As recently as 2005, Uganda threatened to send troops to Congo to disarm Ugandan rebels who were taking refuge there.
- AP