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Congo's Kabila Regrets Border Incidents

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
14 August 2007
Posted to the web 15 August 2007
Kampala
DR CONGO president Joseph Kabila in a meeting with foreign affairs minister Sam
Kutesa said he regretted the recent border incidents with Uganda. He also
assured Heritage Oil there would be no more attacks on their installations on
Lake Albert.
Congolese troops shot dead a British oil worker near Rukwanzi Island on August
3, while unknown attackers raided the border town of Butogota in Kanungu
district six days later, killing three civilians.
"We had a good meeting", Kutesa told The New Vision on phone last night.
"President Kabila said he regretted the border incidents and it would not re-
occur. He also told Heritage in my presence that it (the attack) will never
happen again."
Both countries will hold formal talks at the end of the month to maintain
dialogue, he added, while a permanent commission will look into the oil issue
in Lake Albert which is shared by both countries.
"We are going to have another joint meeting by both military and civil leaders,
most probably in Fort Portal. We also agreed to have a joint permanent
commission in which issues of common exploration of resources and other areas
of cooperation will be discussed."
In addition, a joint border commission will be set up to determine the borders,
based on the colonial boundaries and not natural features like River Semliki,
Kutesa said.
"We agreed that the colonial boundaries, as set out in the 1915 agreement
between Belgium and the UK, must be respected by both sides."
Heritage representatives, too, were delighted with the meeting. "We are very
happy with the outcome", commented Brian Westwood, the manager of Heritage
Uganda who accompanied Kutesa.
"According to President Kabila, we should not be having more problems. As we
talk, we are continuing our operations at the same place (of the attack)."
Congo had earlier said its soldiers were returning fire in the August 3 battle
with security guards working for Heritage, which Kinshasa claimed was carrying
out illegal exploration in its half of Lake Albert.
But Heritage has always insisted the oil barge that was attacked was in Ugandan
waters, arguing they use a satellite-steered GPS (global positioning system),
indicating their location at any given time.
Meanwhile, Hoima authorities said the oil exploration on Lake Albert had
resumed and the security situation was back to normal.
Hoima RDC Martha Asiimwe, who also heads the security committee, yesterday said
her office had cleared the oil explorers.
"The situation is calm and everybody has now gone back to work. The people
carrying out the seismic surveys have resumed normal operations." Apart from
the earlier "precautionary deployments," they had not added more UPDF soldiers
to the shorelines and landing sites, she noted.

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