President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday, October 30, held private talks with his DR Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, according to media reports in Uganda. At the invitation of Museveni, it is reported, the Congolese leader who was accompanied by his ministers and senior government officials, was received at State House, Entebbe. It is reported that they discussed matters of mutual interest, reviewed the current situation and developments in the region, and reaffirmed their commitment to regional peace and security. ALSO READ: At least 35 killed by ADF militia in eastern DR Congo Ugandan troops, in cooperation with their Congolese counterparts, have been jointly combating the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia in eastern DR Congo since November 2021. The ADF, a branch of the Islamic State in Central Africa, is one of the more than 200 militia groups operating in the jungles of eastern DR Congo. The militia pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in 2019. I received the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, H.E Felix Tshisekedi, this afternoon at State House Entebbe. We discussed, among other issues, security between Uganda and DRC, regional security, and infrastructural developments, including key roads of mutual economic benefit, Museveni posted X. We are all in agreement that what Congo needs is what Uganda needs. Hence, we have discussed everything here, and I thank H.E Tshisekedi for responding positively to my invitation for this meeting. The Congolese Presidency, on X, posted that Tshisekedi and Museveni held a closed-door working session on the security crisis in eastern DR Congo . This meeting between the two leaders comes two weeks after the meeting held in Kinshasa between senior officers of the FARDC and the UPDF to assess the joint operations carried out against the ADF terrorists in North Kivu and Ituri. Earlier on Wednesday, Sandor Lyle Walusimbi, Museveni's senior press secretary, posted on X two videos showing the visiting head-of-state arriving at State House. In August, Tshisekedi sent a special message to Museveni, reportedly delivered by the DR Congo leader's special envoy and foreign affairs minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner. As reported, the August meeting, also held in Entebbe, discussed issues concerning peace and security in the region. Genocidal militia Neighbouring Rwanda has warned about the integration of the FDLR, a genocidal militia formed by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, into DR Congo's armed forces (FARDC). Kigali maintains that Congolese government support to the genocidal militia poses a direct threat to Rwanda's security. A proposal for FDLR’s neutralisation which was developed by intelligence officials from DR Congo, Rwanda and Angola, hit a snag in mid-September when Kayikwamba declined to sign the final agreement, despite the endorsement by her counterparts from Rwanda and Angola. The plan, which was initially developed by the Congolese government, would lead to the dismantling of the militia. During the fifth ministerial meeting on the peace and security eastern DR Congo attended by his counterparts Kayikwamba, of DR Congo, and Tete Antonio of Angola, in the Angolan capital Luanda, on October 12, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, laid out three steps that could end the security crisis in DR Congo. He reiterated that the conflict, which has caused a diplomatic rift between Rwanda and DR Congo would be solved if the latter took “ownership of this crisis” instead of blaming Rwanda for it. ALSO READ: How Tshisekedi scuttled FDLR neutralisation plan at last minute A coalition of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) has been fighting the M23 rebels in North Kivu since November 2021. The FARDC coalition has since grown to include forces from Burundi, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and militias such as FDLR and local groups known as Wazalendo.
