[allAfrica.com]


Wapa Tells Rwanda to Stay Out of Bunia

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
March 19, 2003
Posted to the web March 20, 2003

By Wamboga-Mugirya
Kampala
Says Ituri deal none of Kigali's business
Uganda shall not dance to the whims and deadlines given by Rwanda, Foreign
Minister James Wapakhabulo has said.
This was in apparent response to a recent ultimatum by Rwanda requiring Uganda
to pull its forces out of Bunia in the volatile Ituri region of eastern DR
Congo.
Rwanda indicated that if Uganda did not respond positively, Kigali would re-
deploy her forces in the Congo and probably fight their former Ugandan allies
again.
But yesterday Mr Wapakhabulo told The Monitor in an interview that Uganda would
not dance to Rwanda's tunes, neither would Kampala try to influence relations
between Rwanda and other countries.
"It is amazing that Rwanda has sucked herself in our operations in the Ituri
province. We are working there under the United Nations mandate and bilateral
accords with the Kinshasa government," said Mr Wapakhabulo, who also is the
third deputy Prime Minister.
He said that Uganda is operating in the Ituri province under the agreements
signed in Luanda (Angola) on 6 September 2002 and in Dar es Salaam last month.
Mr Wapakhabulo also said Rwanda's border is more than 750kms away from Bunia
and wondered why Kigali is concerned about Uganda's activities in the Ituri
region.
"Our activities are also officially sanctioned by the UN and supervised by the
UN secretary-general's Special Representative in the DRC, Mr Namanga Ngongi,"
Mr Wapakhabulo said.
He said that he had met Congolese President Joseph Kabila's Commissioner-
General for Ituri, Mr Vitalo Kamhere, who agreed to fully implement the Ituri
pacification process.
Mr Wapakhabulo dismissed as a "lie" Rwanda's allegations that Uganda's Defence
Minister Amama Mbabazi tried to persuade the United States to deny Rwandan
President Paul Kagame a meeting with President George Bush.
"Mr Mbabazi never visited the United States [during the period referred to] to
the best of my knowledge nor has he lobbied US officials in Washington, D.C. to
sabotage Mr Kagame's visit," Mr Wapakhabulo said.

   

  =============================================================================
  Copyright © 2003 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                         Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  =============================================================================