Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni (left) shakes hand with his Rwandan
counterpart Paul Kagame after signing an agreement to end the hostility
between the two countries in Luanda, Angola, on August 21, 2019. PHOTO |
URUGWIRO
A delegation of Rwanda and Ugandan officials and ministers are
“working on” a joint meeting to discuss the implementation of the
Memorandum of Understanding signed in Angola by Rwanda and Uganda
leaders to end months of tensions which have gone on for over two years
now.
A highly placed source told The EastAfrican that the first high-level official meeting could happen in “the next few weeks.”
“Both
parties are confident that the agreement will be ‘fully implemented’”,
said the source without giving details on the date and venue for the
meeting.
The planned convention serves a clause in the
Luanda agreement which calls both countries to establish an Adhoc
committee for the implementation of the MoU headed by the ministries of
foreign affairs and composed of the ministers responsible for internal
administration and intelligence chiefs.
No update has been provided as of this week regarding what has so far been implemented from the agreement.
President
Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni embarked on busy schedules since
signing the agreement last Wednesday and have not publicly commented
anything regarding its implementation.
Shortly after meeting in Luanda last week, both leaders
travelled to Japan for the seventh edition of the Tokyo International
Conference for African Development (Ticad).
Media censorship
Kigali
and Kampala have also held talks over the back and forth censorship of
online media websites that each country deems to be spreading
“propaganda” and inciting insecurity.
The Uganda Communication Centre on August 16 ordered internet providers to block Rwanda’s only daily newspaper, The New Times, as well as online tabloid Igihe, on grounds of national security.
The Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Authority countered by blocking a host of Ugandan sites including New Vision, Daily Monitor, The Observer, Chimp Reports and The Independent.
Last
week, both regulators discussed resolving the impasse and agreed to
debate how to publish content that follows “proper media ethics” in the
interest of regional integration.
“We are in direct
talks with UCC and we are in agreement of what needs to be done and we
are progressing well. However, there are certain things that we agreed
that we both need to do to make sure that we avoid such problems in the
future and that is what is taking a bit longer,” Patrick Nyirishema,
Director General of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) told The EastAfrican.
UCC
spokesperson Ibrahim Bbosa said that officials had met with some online
editors of Ugandan news outlets on the potential risk that could come
out of careless reporting.
“Some online publishers have
an interest in trying to increase their online following and others
assume they were being more patriotic by carelessly reporting about some
things, but we realised that through that, dangers are being created,”
said Mr Bbosa.
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