Dar es Salaam

Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete has sent his special assistant, Prof Mark Mwandosya, to Kigali at a time when diplomatic relationsbetween the two countries are at an all-time low.

Tanzania State House said Prof Mwandosya, who is the minister of state for Special Duties in the President’s Office, left the country on Saturday, and will be in Rwanda for a week-long official visit ‘to learn on how Kigali plans and implements social and economic services.

Dar and Kigali are at loggerheads over President Kikwete’s advice last may that Rwanda initiates talks with FDLR rebels as part of efforts to end the Dr Congo crisis.

Rwanda felt offended by president Kikwete’s advice and rejected the idea outright, saying that they cannot sit down with genocidaires (killers). The two presidents — Kikwete and Paul Kagame — held talks in Kampala last August over the matter.

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