Senior officials from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo opened talks here Wednesday on sharing oil resources discovered in a border lake, Ugandan officials said.
"We shall debate on how to manage trans-boundary resources and how to deal with the negative forces in the region that might be a threat to the security of either country," foreign ministry official Muganda Guma told AFP.
The talks, held ahead of a ministerial meeting Friday between the two neighbours, will also address defence and security issues as well as the status of diplomatic relations. "We shall also talk about upgrading our diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level" from the current level of charge d'affaires, Guma said.
Over the past months, several foreign oil companies have made significant discoveries of high-quality crude mainly under Lake Albert, a natural border between the two countries.
One of them said it expected to start production as early as 2009. Yet, the new-found mineral bounty is exacerbating regional tensions and several deadly skirmishes involving Uganda and Congolese forces have taken place in the lake region. Relations between the two nations have been frosty amid mutual accusations that the each side is supporting the other's armed opposition.
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