Less than two weeks after the security summit between Yoweri Museveni and Félix Tshisekedi in Entebbe, the Congolese Parliament is sending a delegation of ten deputies and an expert to Kampala for a parliamentary diplomacy mission. This stay, scheduled from November 12 to 19, aims to strengthen transparency and sincerity in bilateral security relations between the DRC and Uganda. Despite persistent suspicions between Kampala and Kinshasa, both parties wish to strengthen their collaboration.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
This parliamentary mission is part of bilateral interparliamentary cooperation. In Kampala, several meetings are planned, notably with Anita Annet Among, President of the Ugandan Parliament, as well as with heads of parliamentary committees and potentially members of the Ugandan government.
The main objective is to evaluate the execution of existing agreements between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and theUganda. Among these agreements are infrastructure projects decided in June 2021 between Yoweri Museveni And Felix Tshisekedi. They concern the construction and rehabilitation of important roads connecting the two countries. These include, among others, the Mpondwe-Beni axis, 84 kilometers long, the Beni-Butembo road over 54 kilometers, and a section of 94 kilometers linking Bunagana, currently occupied by the M23, to the city of Goma.
Discussions on trade agreements
Discussions are also planned around trade agreements between the two countries. Uganda notably exports construction materials and manufactured products to Eastern DRC, while the DRC exports tea, coffee and cocoa to Uganda.
The latter is sometimes accused of being an exit point for contraband products coming from the DRC. The question of oil exploitation on Lake Albert could also be addressed.
The DRC and Uganda are engaged in military operation Shujaa, launched in November 2021 to hunt down fighters of the ADF, an armed group originating from Uganda and allied to the Islamic State, active in North Kivu and the ‘Ituri.
Congolese parliamentarians wish to evaluate Operation Shujaa, with the aim of increasing its effectiveness and consolidating the recent advances of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) on the ground .
Yoweri Museveni and Félix Tshisekedi were satisfied with this operation, and their meeting on October 31 led, four days ago, to a meeting of FARDC and UPDF experts to implement the agreed directives.
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