Kikwete, Kagame hold talks on ties

BY CORRESPONDENT

6th September 2013

President Jakaya Kikwete shakes hands with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, shortly after their meeting during the Great Lakes summit attended by heads of States in Kampala, Uganda yesterday. (Photo: State House)

President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday met with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in Kampala, Uganda and agreed to maintain and strengthen the historic relations between the two countries.

According to a press statement availed to The Guardian yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the two leaders held talks at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort on the outskirts of Kampala.
The two Presidents are in Uganda to attend the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

The statement said that the talks which lasted for more than an hour were successful and satisfactory to both leaders of the neighbouring countries.

In their discussion, both presidents agreed to continuecollaborating in strengthening the good historic relations between the two countries.
Other heads of States who are attending the Conference include Uganda’ Yoweri Museveni who is the Chairman of ICGLR and the Conference itself, South Sudan’s Silva Kiir and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila who is also the Chairman of the Commission of African Union.
Kikwete and his delegation arrived in Uganda yesterday morning.

Last week Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said the government had requested Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to intervene and find an amicable solution to the ongoing diplomatic wrangle between the neighbours.

Pinda said this in Parliament when responding to a question raised by the leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, Freeman Mbowe who wanted to know what measures the government had taken to resolve the diplomatic standoff. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN