KAMPALA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame are scheduled to meet in the Ugandan capital Kampala to defuse diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Kagame kikwete and M7

James Mugume, permanent secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters here that the two leaders are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of a regional meeting aimed at stopping the escalation of fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“When you are the chairman, you take responsibility to ensuring that all the parties are happy, that you are able to generate consensus and move forward,” Mugume said.

“We are members of the Great Lakes region, what we are trying to do is to harmonize, resolve the issues so that we can get back on track.”

The proposed meeting follows a request by Tanzania for Uganda to help ease diplomatic tensions between Tanzania and Rwanda.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete urged the Rwandan government to hold talks with FDRL rebels as part of efforts to find a lasting peace solution to the fighting in the region.

Kagame snubbed the advise maintaining that there was no way his government was going to sit down with the rebels linked to the 1994 genocide, in which more than 800,000 people were killed.

The FDRL rebels holed up in the east of the DRC since fleeing Rwanda have also caused tensions between the DRC and Rwanda.