By Francis Kwera LUBIRIHA, Uganda, Aug 26 (Reuters) The Ugandan army has released two Congolese soldiers it had captured this month, allegedly for crossing into its territory, in a bid to help ease tensions between the two nations over a disputed border. Their release follows a second round of talks between Kampala and Kinshasa aimed at calming a border row that turned violent this month, killing a British oil worker in a clash on Lake Albert. 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. Congolese Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Saturday. The Ugandan army said it handed over the two men after their meeting. "We have done this in consultation with earlier recommendations made in various pacts and bilateral meetings," army spokesman for western Uganda Lieutenant Tabaro Kiconco told Reuters at the border. The Congolese army welcomed the move. "This is the kind of relationship we should maintain: peace starts here," said eastern Congo battalion commander Major Lwaba Zephyrin. But one of the captured soldiers, 26-year-old Innocent Mukama told journalists he was a deserter who feared returning. "I was running away from persecution and non-payment of wages. I will be declared a traitor and killed," he said. An Aug. 3 gunbattle between Ugandan soldiers allied with guards working for Heritage Oil against Congolese troops killed a Heritage contractor. The battle followed the arrest by the Congolese of four Ugandan soldiers who were later freed. Uganda has twice invaded Congo, the second time sparking a 1998-2003 war that drew in five other countries.
