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Kabale Joint Press Conference

Following talks on Thursday 14th February 2002 between the President of the Republic of Rwanda H.E. Paul Kagame, the President of the Republic of Uganda H.E. Yoweri K. Museveni and the British Secretary of State for International Development Rt. Hon. Clare Short MP, at Katuna and Kabale in Uganda, Their Excellencies and Rt. Hon. Short made statements and answered questions from the press
Proceedings were as follows:

President YOWERI K. MUSEVENI:
We have had a meeting, and I do not have much to say because as the meeting has been good. There are some points which are not in the Communiqué but most of the things we agreed are there. All I would like to say is that I am satisfied with the meeting and I would like to thank President Kagame for coming to Uganda so that we can resolve these bilateral misunderstandings, and in particular I would like to thank our sister, Rt. Hon. Clare Short for her mediation role when she invited us to London, and her subsequent efforts. I don’t really have much to say. I am very happy with the meeting because it has dealt with the substance on the problems, point-by-point, so I am quite happy.

President PAUL KAGAME:
Thank you Mr. President. I would like to confirm what you have just said, and also to thank you and people of Uganda for hosting us to the fruitful meeting we have just had. I also wish to extend our gratitude to Rt. Hon. Clare Short for continued efforts to work with us to resolve any outstanding issues relating to our bilateral relations. We have had meaningful and fruitful discussions, and from here I think the situation will continue to improve. Thank you.

Rt. Hon. CLARE SHORT:
The meeting we had in London, as you all know, went extremely well and we have done good work since. But this meeting was positively warm and friendly. There are some more issues we needed to arrange how to resolve. We did that in a very practical way just discussing sensible….just to get all that muddle of the past out of the way. We all agreed that the most important thing for both countries and for the region is to get the situation in the DRC resolved and getting Uganda and Rwanda together, getting rid of any tension, working together on that is in the interest of both countries and the region. The UK is anxious to help in that endeavour, and we spoke at some length, and with a lot of enthusiasm about how we would take that forward too. I think it couldn’t have been a better meeting, and now we are going to get on with the most important task for the people of the region. Thank you.

Question: Safari Gaspard, New Times
My question is for President Museveni. Mr. President, the joint verification team found no evidence of any training camps in any country. What does this mean to you in relation to your letter to Rt. Hon. Short? Does it mean that you are going to apologise, or do you have any regrets about having written the letter? Thank you.

President MUSEVENI:
Well, the Bible starts with the book of Genesis and ends with the book of Revelations. So once we have finished the whole matter, then we shall see what to do. Let’s finish the whole matter, we are continuing, we about to finish. Once we have finished, I will see what to do.



Question: Frank Ndamage, Imvaho Newspaper
My question is for His Excellency the President of Uganda. There are some Rwandans locked up different military and police barracks in Uganda. Did you talk about their possible release? Thank you.

President MUSEVENI:
I am not aware of Rwandans who are under arrest. I am not aware. But in the Communiqué we point out that harassment of citizens from either country should stop. It will stop. There is no reason why people should be locked up. They should be taken to court if they have made any mistake.
We also provide for extradition in the Communiqué. Extradition is mainly for the citizens of…for instance if Ugandans committed crimes in Uganda and fled to Rwanda, Uganda Government can seek their extradition, kwarudisha, lakini kama if it is Rwandese who are suspected of have committed mistakes in Uganda, they should be taken to court, not simply kept in jail. That is wrong.

Question: Magara Darius, New Vision
What should we say about the presence of Kyakabale and Mande in Rwanda?

President MUSEVENI:
Well, that is part of the discussion….the Communiqué says that the presence of these people will be resolved and soon as possible. Read the Communiqué, that’s what it talks about.

Question: Willy Rukundo, Radio Rwanda
My question goes to President Museveni. I remember after the London meeting there was a statement in the media in which Minister Amama Mbabazi said that problems in the relations between Rwanda and Uganda would not be resolved until the issues of Kisangani are resolved. Have they been resolved now?

President MUSEVENI:
Well, we have solved it by dealing with the matter the way we have dealt with it, by resolving the present problems. But we have not gone back to Kisangani. Because that is one way of solving it, forgetting about it.

Rt. Hon. SHORT :
We thought we would solve Kisangani by solving the conflict in the Congo as a whole. That is how we have decided to do it.



© The Government of Rwanda.