Congo asks Uganda to move troops from its territory

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo asked Uganda today to withdraw troops it says are in its east, ahead of a meeting of their presidents to resolve a border dispute in which an oil worker was killed last month.

Congo's Joseph Kabila and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni are due to meet in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha this weekend for talks to calm tensions over oil exploration on Lake Albert, which straddles both countries.

The lake is a frontier in the hunt for African oil, with Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil both drilling in concessions around the Albertine basin.

Kinshasa says they are prospecting illegally in its waters.

Congo Foreign Affairs Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi told a meeting in Arusha his government was committed to the principle of ''non-violation'' of the borders created by colonial powers.

''Our country calls upon Uganda to withdraw its forces from Congolese territory, in certain areas of Mahagi in Eastern Province,'' he added at the meeting with his Ugandan counterpart and various other officials of both nations.

''Regarding exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, our country wants to reaffirm its commitment in favour of the principle of joint common exploitation of resources in the common border, especially in Lake Albert,'' Nyamwisi added.

Relations between the two countries have been fraught for years and Uganda has twice invaded Congo. Kampala has said those incursions were to flush out Ugandan rebels.

The second invasion sparked a 1998-2003 war that drew in five other countries, and Uganda regularly threatens to re-invade its much larger neighbour.

''Having to deal with negative forces in each other's territories continues to be a matter of serious concern, and it is my serious hope that we shall have an executive solution,'' Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa said at the meeting.

In the latest spat, a British Heritage contractor died on August 3 when Ugandan soldiers and Heritage guards fought a gun-battle against Congolese troops.

Ugandan soldiers then captured two Congolese soldiers it said had illegally crossed the border.

They have since been released.

REUTERS PDT VC2112