This follows after the presidents of both countries signed an agreement in Angola following months of mutual recrimination over spying and political assassinations which led to a border closure between the two East African countries, seriously damaging their mutual economies.

The agreement was signed in the Angolan capital Luanda on Wednesday as witnesses, Angolan President Joao Lourenco, Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi, and Congo's Denis Sassou Nguesso looked on, the East African reported.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni agreed to “refrain from actions conducive to destabilisation or subversion in the territory of the other party (and) acts such as the financing, training and infiltration of destabilising forces".

Rwanda's Kagame and Uganda's Museveni were once close political allies before their relationship turned acrimonious and came to a head earlier in the year when Kagame closed Rwanda’s border with Uganda, leading to stranded students, business people, a bottle-neck of trucks transporting goods and the economic decimation of border communities which rely on cross-border trade for their livelihoods.

Additionally, there were border incidents and several shooting deaths after Rwandan security forces opened fire on Ugandans, suspected to be smugglers, who were accused by the former of crossing the border illegally while Kampala asserted the incident had taken place in its territory.

Kagame accused Museveni of hosting opposition groups working to overthrow Kigali and of deliberately targeting and incarcerating Rwandans in Uganda.

Museveni countered that his country’s security forces had arrested Rwandan agents spying in the country.

Following the signing of the agreement, the Rwandan leader said he believed that there would be no further problems in working with the Ugandan leader as they would both address issues that they had agreed to discuss.

These developments come as a relief to neighbouring countries after concerns that the ongoing conflict could destabilise the region.

African News Agency (ANA)