Uganda charm offensive with DRC gathering pace

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A fortnight ago, Uganda Airliners flew an assemblage of Ugandan businessmen, technocrats and politicians to Kinshasa and Goma to explore business opportunities in the East African Community’s newest partner state. The Uganda-DR Congo Business Summit is the brainchild of the Private Sector Foundation (PSF).

While all indications point to the relationship between Uganda and the DR Congo taking an upward trajectory, the same can’t be said of that between the latter and her tiny eastern neighbour—Rwanda. Unlike Uganda Airlines, which is increasing its presence in the DR Congo, at the end of last month Congolese authorities suspended the operations of Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir.
Kinshasa tersely attributed the suspension to Kigali reportedly supporting M23. The rebel outfit named after a previous DR Congo peace deal signed on March 23, 2009 operates in the east of the mineral-rich but restive country.

“I have always maintained that you have to build bridges rather than walls,” the DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi said on state television, adding, “That does not constitute an opportunity for neighbours to come and provoke us. I hope that Rwanda has learned this lesson because, today, it’s clear there is no doubt Rwanda has supported the M23 to come and attack the DR Congo.”

Two months ago, DR Congo was admitted as the seventh member of the East African Community (EAC). This makes the community a bloc of 300 million people, stretching from the Indian Ocean all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, the development raises the prospect of trade blossoming and infrastructure.
In welcoming the DR Congo to the bloc, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan promised to connect its “railway network with the EAC.” She added that this “will provide an opportunity for increasing access to EAC markets and reducing the cost of intra-regional trade.” Ms Suluhu’s Ugandan counterpart—Mr Museveni—was equally enthusiastic.

He said: “If you want prosperity in Africa, the way forward is…to be able to negotiate for bigger markets in Africa and in East Africa. If I am a businessman or businesswoman and I produce a product or service, how many people will buy from me?”
Geographically, it’s easy to see why the East African presidents were ecstatic about the DR Congo joining the East African bloc. Six of the bloc’s member states could gain entry to the far-flung West Africa—and the Atlantic Ocean for good measure—through the DR Congo. The country is two-thirds the size of western Europe, but its road and rail networks leave a lot to be desired.

Lure of minerals
The DR Congo’s untapped mineral range of cobalt, gold, diamond, aluminium, copper, tin and others—all valued at $24 trillion—has been held out as something that teems with tremendous opportunities. 
But for these opportunities to be actualised, Mr Museveni confessed during the DR Congo’s accession to the EAC, “we…need to work on peace in eastern Congo because that region has been having problems for some time.”

At the time of admitting the DR Congo into the EAC, Mr Museveni and his Rwandan opposite number—Mr Paul Kagame—were at loggerheads with the former shutting the border, accusing Kampala of harbouring rebels that want to oust him.
No sooner had a truce been called than the embers of war between the DR Congo and Rwanda were reignited. This comes after both countries enjoyed a cosy relationship for several years that saw trade flourish with figures from Rwanda Institute of Statistics indicating how the DR Congo took in 96 percent of Rwanda’s re-exports.

Not to be left out, Uganda has been making attempts to tap into DR Congo’s 95 million-strong market by principally doing two things—agreeing with the DR Congo to do a joint military operation to flush out the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) that were causing havoc in restive eastern part of the country and also embarking on the construction of a number of road projects that overlap into the DR Congo. These include the Mpondwe/Kasindi-Beni Road (125km), the Bunagana-Rutshuru-Goma Road (89km), and the Beni-Butembo Axis (54km).

“This is just butter on a bread roll. Peace is the bread and roads are the butter. It’s good that President Tshisekedi sent his team to do something about the roads. We are also ready for the electricity. We took power to Kasindi and now Beni and Butembo,” Mr Museveni said at the launch of the construction of the roads in 2021, adding, “We shall extend to Mahangi. We are ready to work on three things, security, roads and electricity. Even if we don’t do anything else, for now, people on both sides will be happy with these.”

Business opportunities
To tap into the DR Congo’s market, Uganda will be banking on Kabaale International Airport which is now under construction in the Albertine region near the Congolese border.
“When it comes to Congo there are many prospects. People are thinking of ferries to transport goods across Lake Albert, but also the airport in Hoima which will be used to transport cargo.  Uganda is well placed to do a lot of trade in Congo,” said Mr Stephen Asiimwe, the executive director of the Private Sector Foundation (PSF).

Whereas the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Congolese are still chasing the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the thick forests of the DR Congo, the private sector in Uganda is plotting to make the most of the love affair Mr Museveni started with Mr Tshisekedi.

“When Uganda entered into a special relationship with DRC to wipe out the insurgents it became evident that the business community must play their role in the private sector,” the PSF chairman, Mr Elly Karuhanga told Saturday Monitor about the origins of the Uganda-DR Congo business summit, adding, “We as Private Sector  Foundation formed a big delegation and we liaised with our partners in Kinshasa to make sure we have a good meeting. The meetings were attended by both business people from Uganda and Congo.”
Besides Mr Karuhanga, other key figures in Uganda’s foray into the DR Congo—according to sources familiar with the matter—include Museveni’s son-in-law, Mr Odrek Rwabwogo, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, the East African Community Affairs minister and Ms Harriet Ntabazi, the junior Finance (trade) minister.

“We expect a lot of trade deals in milk, beef, ICT, exchange of media services and a lot of trade deals as you can imagine,” Mr Karuhanga revealed.
Indeed, a number of Ugandan companies such as Pearl Diary (produces Lato Milk), Jesa Farm Dairy (produces Jesa Milk), Ugachick poultry breeders (who deal in chicken products), Tooke (a banana value-added flour and baked products made in Uganda by Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development), Movit Products Limited (which deals in cosmetics) and Fintechs, have taken centre stage.

“There is no reason as to why people in this region should be poor. With all these opportunities with all the market we have, why should we be poor?” Mr Karuhanga rhetorically asked. “What we are trying to do is open up trade. The Congolese will be coming here and also Ugandans will be going to the DRC. That will mean the exchange of skills and other things.”

Non-tariff barriers
When it comes to the EAC, hope for goods and services to move without any restrictions has always remained on paper. It remains to be seen whether the first Uganda-DR Congo business summit will translate into tangible results. For now, though, what was agreed in Goma and Kinshasa is that politicians on either side of the border form what is dubbed as Joint Permanent Commission. A first meeting of the commission has already been pencilled in for November.

The other takeaways from the summit are that it will be an annual event. The DR Congo will send a delegation to Uganda before the end of the year for a similar summit. Government agencies on both sides such as the Trade, Foreign Affairs and East African Affairs ministries as well as revenue authorities, Export Promotion Board, PSF and National Bureau of Standards will meet quarterly to monitor the progress of cross border trade and any other emerging issues.
While Ugandans and Congoleses in Goma were thinking of trade, 161.3 kilometres away in Rwanda, Kigali was describing as fake accusations that 500 of its soldiers had been stationed in the Tshanzu area in North Kivu province. The counteraccusation from Kigali holds that the DR Congo army is instead working alongside an armed group propped by ethnic Hutus (the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda or FDLR) who were deeply involved in the country’s 1994 genocide.

“The anti-Rwanda sentiment in DRC is high. The people here blame Rwanda for supporting the M23 and for us, Uganda, we no longer have a problem with Congo,” said a Ugandan government official who was part of the business summit.
The Uganda official went on to add: “We are committed to do trade without any problem since even the UPDF’s involvement in Congo is as result of an agreement with their government.”

Roots of the DR Congo conflict
According to Mr James Stejskal—a military historian—both Uganda and Rwanda have had a hand in destabilising the DR Congo, having joined arms to drive out the country’s president Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.

They quickly installed their puppet Laurent Desire Kabila, allegedly hoping he would do their bidding. Once Kabila refused to do as Museveni and Kagame ordered, Mr Stejskal says the two agreed in 1998 to cut Mr Kabilla loose. The military operation that would have seen Kabila lose power was, however, muffled by the intervention of both the Angolan and Zimbabwean troops upon a request by the desperate Kabila.

Once they failed to oust Kabila, Uganda and Rwanda resorted to—adds Mr Stejskal—supporting rival rebel groups and militias in the DR Congo. This ultimately resulted in the 2000 six-day war clash between Rwandan and Ugandan forces in Kisangani, the DR Congo’s second-largest city. Rwanda claimed victory.
In February, the International Court of Justice ordered Uganda to pay $325m to the DR Congo for breaching international norms as an occupying force between 1998 and 2003. Starting this September, Uganda will pay the first of five annual instalments of $65m until 2026.

The recent business summit in the DR Congo is an indication that relations between the two countries have thawed out. As the Uganda-DR Congo summit was playing out in Goma, all the Chiefs of Defence forces in the region had a separate meeting at Serena Hotel, Goma. They agreed to join forces and wipe out the militia in eastern Congo.
“Like I told people in Goma, never again shall we fight our brothers and sisters in the DRC.  There is a time for everything, Mr Karuhanga said, adding: “There is a time for this generation to stand up and be counted and make sure that business thrives. We can’t allow tomatoes to be imported from Europe yet our neighbours are growing tomatoes.”

He further revealed: “The other times are behind us and this generation won’t accept any mishandling of our affairs. The agreement has established an umbilical cord like the one we have with Tanzania with the [East African Crude Oil Pipeline]. We want to have wealthy neighbours.”