Rwanda, DRCongo seek to mend ties ahead of historic elections

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2006

KIGALI (AFP) — Once bitter foes whose animosity plunged Africa's Great Lakes region into a cauldron of instability, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its tiny neighbor Rwanda are patching up their differences.

At war with each other for most of the past decade, Kigali and Kinshasa remain wary but senior officials in both capitals say relations are slowly thawing as historic DRC elections loom.

Just months before Congolese voters are to cast ballots on July 30 in the vast nation's first multi-party polls in 40 years, a hesitant warming trend has become a real thaw with severed diplomatic ties soon to be restored, they say.

"Our relations with the DRC have improved," Rwandan President Paul Kagame said last week. He noted with satisfaction that...