Uganda’s Foreign Affairs permanent secretary James Mugume gave no indication as to why Kagame, whose government the UN accuses of backing DR Congo’s M23 rebels, had decided not to attend.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame did not attend Saturday’s DR Congo summit in Kampala, seeking a solution to the conflict in eastern DR Congo, a government official has said. “Kagame is not coming,” James Mugume the Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, said, adding that Mr Kagame would be represented by Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete were in Kampala for the summit, along with host President Museveni. Also in attendance are head of African Union Commission Dlamini-Zuma, the Mozambican Foreign Affairs minister Oldemiro Júlio Marques Balói and South Africa Defence minister Mapisa-Nqakula and East Africa Community Secretary General Richard Sezibera. “It is indeed a full house and at the end of the meeting we shall be informing the world what we have resolved, “Mr Mugume said.

Mugume gave no indication as to why Kagame — whose government the United Nations accuses of backing DR Congo’s M23 rebels, a claim Kigali rejects — had decided not to attend. Sources in Brazzaville and Kigali said the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso would fly into the Rwandan capital Saturday afternoon for talks with Kagame. Members of Sassou’s delegation had already arrived Friday in Kigali

Meanwhile DR Congo President Joseph Kabila arrived late morning at Speke Resort Munyonyo on the outskirts of Kampala, where the summit was held. Ugandan officials had earlier said that both Mr Kagame and Mr Kabila would attend and that without them the summit would be “meaningless”.

A delegation from the M23 rebels was also in Kampala, but not at the summit venue, and was expected to hold separate talks with Museveni later in the day. Mr Kabila and Mr Kagame met on Tuesday and Wednesday, hours after the rebels seized the regional capital of Goma, issuing a joint statement with Mr Museveni calling for the M23 to stop its offensive and pull out of the key eastern city.

The rebels, however, insist that Mr Kabila must sit at the negotiating table with them before they agree to demands that they withdraw from the strategic city of Goma, one of their leaders told AFP on Thursday.
“There must first be a dialogue with President Kabila,” said Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, who was reached by telephone. “There must be dialogue and solutions before anything takes place.”

The political leader of the M23 rebel group were in Kampala on Thursday for talks with President Museveni, a spokesperson of the group said. Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero “was summoned urgently to Kampala… for discussions with President Museveni,” spokesperson Amani Kabasha told AFP.

The rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on Tuesday before taking the key town of Sake 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the west the next day, forcing thousands to flee.