Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni gives a speech at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, on June 4, 2021. (BADRU KATUMBA / AFP)
KAMPALA - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and visiting Rwandan leader Paul Kagame agreed to push for joint regional peace and stability to address the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday.
Museveni said the problems affecting the region like the crisis in Congo need a collective approach from all regional members of the East African Community, which brings together Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan, and DRC, according to a State House statement issued in Kampala Sunday.
This time we must insist on working together because these people have suffered a lot. I told President Kenyatta that if we don't come in as a region, Congo may become like Sudan.
Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan president
"This time we must insist on working together because these people have suffered a lot. I told President Kenyatta that if we don't come in as a region, Congo may become like Sudan," Museveni said. President Uhuru Kenyatta is Kenya's president. He hosted a regional heads of state meeting in Nairobi on Thursday regarding the situation in DRC.
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President Kagame said leaders and all parties must talk to solve the Congolese crisis once and for all.
In this file photo taken on May 28, 2021, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame speaks during an interview with international media at the presidency office in Kigali. (SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
"They need to talk without leaving anyone behind," Kagame said.
The regional leaders' meeting held in Nairobi directed all armed groups in the DRC to participate unconditionally in the political process to resolve their grievances.
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They also directed that a regional force be deployed to fight rebel insurgency in the country.
Kagame is in Uganda on a private visit at the invitation of Museveni. Kagame last visited Uganda in March 2018.