REFILE-Uganda, Congo talks end without a deal on border

(Refiles to fix wrong word in first graph)

By Tim Cocks

KAMPALA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo ended talks on Saturday meant to defuse border tensions in an oil exploration hotspot, officials said, but failed to agree on how their border should be drawn.

Ugandan Foreign Ministry spokesman Patrick Muganda-Guma said the two had signed a deal marking the way for further negotiations on the border and oil exploration rights.

But a copy of the document obtained by Reuters was thin on detail and seemed to defer any substantive agreements on either issue to a later date.

A string of shootouts between the two former foes on Lake Albert has killed several civilians since August, including a British contractor working for Canada's Heritage Oil Corp.

In the most deadly clash, six civilians died in September when Ugandan troops opened fire on a Congolese passenger boat.

"The meeting of the Joint Border Team on border remarking did not take place owing to the fact that the Ugandan team did not travel to Kasenyi (in DRC)," the document said, adding that joint police patrols in disputed areas would start in January.

Congo has deployed police to the disputed Rukwanzi island, replacing soldiers in a gesture designed to de-escalate the conflict. Uganda has yet to add its police to the joint force.

Decisions on reviewing an existing oil exploration agreement were also postponed.

"DRC submitted a draft proposal for amending the 1990 agreement on co-operation in exploration and exploitation in oil and gas. Uganda received the proposals and recommended that experts meet to discuss them," the document said.

DRC Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi, who signed the agreement with his Ugandan counterpart Sam Kutesa, told Reuters that the two countries had "reached an understanding." "We have agreed to make use of existing mechanisms to diffuse tensions ... by sticking to the rules," he said.

Kutesa said that: "We basically agreed to ... respect ... the border as it was drawn in colonial times."

"Once we implement the agreement, the air is cleared," he told Reuters.

Uganda and Congo fought a 1998-2003 war that also involved five other African countries.

Heritage and British-based Tullow Oil have between them made discoveries in eight wells in the Albertine Basin. Tullow has three blocks, two in 50-50 partnership with Heritage.

The two companies say exploration is at an early stage but estimate reserves which could be in excess of a billion barrels of oil, based on drilling and seismic data. (Editing by Myra MacDonald)