By David Lewis 2 hours, 48 minutes ago
KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the vast African nation are "preserving" foreign fighters who want to attack Uganda, its President Yoweri Museveni has said.
Museveni wrote a letter, seen by Reuters in Kinshasa on Monday, to Congo's President Joseph Kabila last week complaining about the presence of Ugandan and Rwandan guerrillas in eastern Congo and the lack of disarmament of militia fighters.
He warned that Uganda would "react vigorously" if attacked.
"By preserving these terrorists, therefore, the Congo Government and MONUC (the U.N. mission in Congo) are preserving and allowing to grow the Great Lakes problem," the letter said.
Foreign diplomats in Kinshasa said the letter was authentic.
Uganda was one of six neighboring countries to send its army into Congo during a five-year war that was officially declared over in 2003 after the foreign armies withdrew and the belligerents joined a transitional government in Kinshasa.
But Kinshasa's authority in the mineral-rich east of the country has repeatedly been undermined by Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian armed groups who terrorise civilians despite the presence of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers.
"I have recently got intelligence to the effect that the militia groups in eastern Congo are planning a new rebellion in eastern Congo," Museveni said in the June 22 letter, which was also sent to the U.N., the United States and regional leaders.
"I have also got information that certain adventurists want to use the anticipated chaos in eastern Congo to launch terrorist attacks on Uganda. Uganda will react vigorously against any attacks from any quarter," he warned.
Despite officially withdrawing their armies, both Uganda and Rwanda are suspected of continuing to meddle in the east, where both countries had huge economic interests during the war.
The Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels are considered the greatest threat to regional peace among the militia groups in the region. But there are also several Ugandan rebel groups based in Congo which Museveni says are preparing to launch attacks.
INSTABILITY
Uganda's Defense Minister Amama Mbabazi said he could not comment directly on Museveni's letter, but said Uganda had legitimate concerns about instability in eastern Congo.
"We have security concerns because both the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and People's Redemption Army (PRA) rebels are still alive and active and preparing to attack Uganda from Congo," Mbabazi told Reuters.
ADF rebels based on the border with Congo carried out deadly raids on villages in western Uganda and were blamed for a string of bombings in the capital Kampala in the late 1990s.
Elections which had been due to take place by the end of June were the cornerstone of a 2003 deal to end Congo's war. The polls have been postponed until next year because of government wrangling, logistical delays and bloodshed in the east.
An uprising by Tutsi army officers in the eastern town of Bukavu last year threatened to derail Congo's peace process. The insurgents left Bukavu under intense international pressure but they and many other armed groups remain at large.
There are fears that the delay to what would be the first free and fair elections in 40 years could spark another crisis in Congo, where nearly 4 million people have died, mostly from hunger and disease, since the war began in 1998.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis in Kampala)
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