17 February 2005

Uganda Showing Good Faith in Congo Talks, U.S. Official Says

State's Yamamoto to travel to Kampala at end of February

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Uganda displayed its commitment to a nonmilitary solution to conflict in the volatile eastern Congo region when it called for the most recent in a series of tripartite peace talks at the State Department, says Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto.

Following the February 2 talks, Yamamoto told the Washington File, "The most recent meeting of the tripartite peace talks was requested by Uganda in response to the crisis in December [2004], when Rwanda threatened to re-enter eastern Congo to deal with the threat of the Interahamwe/ex-FAR [Rwandan Hutu militia/former Armed Forces of Rwanda] rebel group.

"Uganda’s action indicated the faith in the process to deal with and resolve problems involving the parties" in a nonconfrontational way, the diplomat stressed.

"The results of our meeting in Washington were positive," he added.  "The parties developed possible solutions to deal with security concerns in eastern Congo."

The United States initiated the tripartite process in 2004 at a meeting in New York that included Secretary of State Colin Powell.  It was an effort to help the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda implement the provisions of agreements the countries signed to help end a simmering rebellion that one former top State Department official called Africa's first world war.

"We have conducted six meetings thus far over the past year," Yamamoto said, "and the participants have remained the same, underscoring the commitment of the parties to work together.

"In recent meetings we invited representatives of the African Union [AU], the European Union [EU], and the United Nations, as well as Burundi, to participate, and they are now very much part of the tripartite process."

Yamamoto said a further aim of the talks was to bolster AU, EU and U.N. programs that  "support the economic development, resolution of conflict, and establishment of peace in the region."

For America, the official said, "another objective of the tripartite process was to build interagency support for greater U.S. engagement in the Great Lakes region, particularly support for greater U.S. assistance levels for the region."

Uganda's foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, also spoke to the Washington File after the State Department meeting, calling it "very useful."

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called for the session, Kutesa explained, because he wanted to clarify implementation mechanisms that had been agreed to in Kigali in October 2004.  Generally, this meant clearing the air on how to share information among the three powers involved in the talks, the Ugandan added.

Minister Kutesa complimented the State Department, saying, "The United States has played a very useful role in facilitating the tripartite talks," and adding that he and his government look forward to further assistance in communications technology and information-sharing that could help to defuse tensions and confrontations in the future.

On the U.S. side, Yamamoto said, "Building confidence among the parties and seeing significant progress towards peace and stability" will have made U.S. facilitation of the tripartite process worth it.

Yamamoto said he and top aides "plan to travel to Kampala at the end of February to work with the parties on specific and practical measures."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)