DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame sealed a restoration of diplomatic ties between the former foes in their first bilateral talks in over a decade. The presidents met for over two hours in the lakeside city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and reviewed all issues of common interest. Hailing what they called an all new era, the presidents said they had decided to revive mixed commissions which have lain dormant for years, in a bid to relaunch the war-battered economy of the border area of eastern Congo where more than one million people are homeless. The landmark meeting comes amid an 11-day African tour by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will visit Kinshasa next week. The two presidents have met several times on the sidelines of international summits aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern DR Congo, where each has long accused the other of backing rebel groups. After a brief revival of ties, diplomatic ties were definitively broken off in 1998, following a second Rwandan incursion.
