Uganda, Zim make up over DRC

2004-10-05 20:48

Harare - President Robert Mugabe and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni have buried the hatchet over the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo that saw their armies backing opposing factions.

"I came here to show you that we are brothers and, historically speaking, we are on the same side.

"I am most pleased to be here," said Museveni at a lavish dinner hosted for him by Mugabe at his official residence.

"In spite of the little misunderstanding we had on Congo with the leaders of Zimbabwe ... we have always worked together," Museveni said.

Mugabe reciprocated by saying that with the "DRC conflict behind us", it was time to "further cement our strong bonds of cooperation".

Transient misunderstanding

"Happily those bonds that bring us together remained stronger than the transient misunderstanding that we went through and we are back to our normal relations," said Mugabe.

Museveni arrived on Monday for his first visit to Zimbabwe since the end of the war in DRC, which began in August 1998 and formally ended last year.

Uganda sided with Rwanda in backing rebels fighting to topple the government of late DRC president Laurent Kabila.

Zimbabwe deployed up to 12 000 troops to prop up Kabila's government.

"Even in well-knit families, differences do occur from time to time," said Mugabe.

"It is in this context that our two countries found themselves on opposing sides during the ugly conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo," he said.

The 1998-2003 war in the DRC drew in six countries at its height, with Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe backing Kinshasa while Rwanda and Uganda supported rebel groups.

Dubbed Africa's world war, the conflict claimed an estimated 2.5 million lives.

Museveni is leading a high-profile delegation including businessmen to discuss a wide range of issues such as trade with Zimbabwe, which is in the throes of an economic crisis triggered in part by Mugabe's 2000 land reform program in which thousands of white-owned farms were seized and distributed to landless blacks.

- AFP