During a working visit of a few hours in Uganda, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and his Ugandan counterpart discussed strengthening their cooperation in several areas, with a particular focus on the fight against jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State.
On the eve of the 23rd summit of Heads of State and Government of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) which opens on Thursday, October 31 in Burundi, the president of the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, went to Entebbe, Uganda on Wednesday for a working visit to his counterpart, Yoweri Museveni.
The two leaders met for three hours at the State House in Entebbe, mainly on the security situation in eastern DRC. At the heart of the talks was the evaluation of the joint operations carried out by the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) against the terrorists of the Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF) in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.
These Islamists, originally from Uganda and affiliated with the Islamic State since 2018, are intensifying atrocities against civilians in eastern DRC. To counter the jihadist group also active in Uganda, the two countries launched Operation “Shujaa†(hero in Swahili) in 2021.
“The very enriching and very promising discussions that we had focused mainly on the peace process, this peace that we want for our region,” declared President Tshisekedi at the end of the meeting.
President Museveni said the talks also addressed “oil exploitation on Lake Albert and road infrastructure†of common interest.
“What Congo needs is what Uganda needs,†he stressed.
This meeting comes at the right time before the opening, on Thursday, of the COMESA summit, whose theme is “Let’s accelerate regional integration through the development of regional value chains in the areas of climate-resilient agriculture, mining and tourism.â€
The Congolese delegation included in particular the Minister of Infrastructure Alexis Gisaro, the High Representative of the Head of State in charge of the Luanda process, and the Chief of General Staff
of the FARDC.
AC/Sf/fss/as/APA
