§ Mr. Ivan HendersonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on her meeting with the Presidents of Rwanda and Uganda on 17 October 2002. [80889]
§ Clare ShortThe meeting was the second review of the Memorandum of Understanding Presidents Museveni and Kagame and I signed in November last year at Lancaster House. They committed themselves again to not interfering in each others' political and security affairs. They agreed to make more effective use of the mechanisms that had been put in place to resolve differences and to avoid recourse to the use of the media. The UK agreed to continue to act as third party in this process.
Equally importantly the two Presidents agreed to work together to achieve peace and stability in the region. They urged President Mbeki of South Africa, as Chairman of the African Union, to convene a Regional Summit to call on all parties to fully implement the Pretoria and Luanda Agreements.
Presidents Museveni and Kagame shared our concern at the situation in Burundi and agreed we should work together, especially with the Governments of Tanzania and South Africa, to get a get a cease fire agreed and support the Transitional National Government under the Arusha Accords.