New York -- Rwanda’s ambassador to the United Nations told The Monitor Monday he is confident Uganda and Rwanda can resolve their differences without going to war.

"Bilaterally, between the two countries, it will be possible to find a solution to the problem," Ambassador Anastase Gasana said. "It is not necessary to go the international level."

Edith Ssempala, Ugandan ambassador to the U.S., agreed. "There is no impending conflict between Uganda and Rwanda," Ssempala wrote in an email to The Monitor Sunday. "Although we have some issues to resolve we are cooperating on a number of other issues."

The Ugandan ambassador to the UN could not be reached for comment. The Rwandan ambassador to the U.S. would only be available for an interview in person, not by phone, a spokesperson said.
As tensions rose between Uganda and Rwanda and the specter of war was raised, the defence ministers from the two neighbors met in Kabale Monday. Gasana said such bilateral talks should lead to an amicable settlement of the dispute, precipitated by a letter President Yoweri Museveni wrote to British Secretary of State for Overseas Development Clare Short asking for Britain’s understanding of his intention to increase Uganda’s defence spending precipitously.

Gasana also said the secretary-general of the African Union Amara Essy was in Kigali Monday to discuss the Uganda-Rwanda conflict. The ambassador said Essy was passing through Kigali of his own accord on his way to Burundi to witness the launching of a transitional government there.

Gasana said he has not spent any time meeting with officials from Uganda, the United States, or the UN to mediate the dispute between Uganda and Rwanda. Instead, he and the staff of the Rwanda mission have been busy working on counterterrorism initiatives, on the enforcement of the Lusaka Agreement on the withdrawal of troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and on the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.

He added that Rwandan and Ugandan envoys will meet at two upcoming meetings at the UN in New York: on November 8, for countries which are members of the Burundi Initiative; and on November 9, for signatories to the Lusaka Agreement. Gasana said the Ugandan ambassador to the UN called him on Friday to tell him Uganda’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister for foreign affairs would attend the two meetings. Gasana added that Rwanda’s foreign minister would also attend the meetings.