Kagame hails Burundi's planned withdrawal from DRC

NAIROBI, 10 January (IRIN) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame has welcomed Burundi's planned troop withdrawal from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"If he [DRC President Joseph Kabila] says he is not going to support Burundian rebels, that's a very good sign," AFP quoted Kagame as telling reporters in Kigali on return from a two-day visit to Angola.

Asked about the continued presence of Rwandan troops in the DRC backing rebels fighting the Kinshasa government, Rwandan presidential spokesman Nicholas Shalita told IRIN that Kagame was exercising caution in this matter.

"Rwanda has been in dialogue with the DRC government over the last few years, but this has not resulted in change on the part of Kinshasa," Shalita said on Thursday. "Rwanda's experience is that action is what is most important, not agreement."

He also told IRIN that Kagame's attendance at next week's conference of the Southern African Development Community on the resolution of the DRC conflict was "very likely". Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, inter-Congolese dialogue facilitator Ketumile Masire and leaders from all of the community's 14 member nations are expected to attend the conference in Blantyre, Malawi.

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