Rwanda planning to attack Burundi, President Évariste Ndayishimiye tells BBC

Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye tells the BBC he has seen “credible intelligence” that Rwanda plans to attack his nation, and that Rwanda had tried to launch a coup a decade in the past in Burundi akin to “what it is doing within the Democratic Republic of Congo” now.

Rwanda has already hit again, calling the president’s feedback “stunning” and insisting the 2 neighbours are cooperating on safety plans for his or her shared border, which has been shut for over a 12 months.

Regardless of in depth UN proof, Rwanda has at all times denied arming and backing the M23 insurgent group, which has not too long ago seized massive elements of jap DR Congo alongside Rwandan troops.

Rwanda has additionally denied hyperlinks to the resurgent Purple Tabara insurgent group, which President Ndayishimiye says is a proxy power related to the M23 and is being supported by Rwanda to destabilise Burundi.

“They might say it is an inner drawback when it is Rwanda [who is] the issue. We all know that he [Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame] has a plan to attack Burundi,” Ndayishimiye added. “Burundians won’t settle for to be killed as Congolese are being killed. Burundian persons are fighters.”

“However now we haven’t any plans to attack Rwanda. We would like to resolve that drawback by dialogue.”

On the coronary heart of Ndayishimiye’s feedback was a name for peace and the total implementation of an settlement between the 2 nations – a peace deal that had been signed in earlier years however, in accordance to Burundi, had not been honoured by Rwanda.

“The individuals who did the 2015 coup [were] organised by Rwanda, after which they ran away. Rwanda organised them – it went to recruit the youth in Mahama camp. It skilled them, it gave them arms, it financed them. They’re dwelling within the hand of Rwanda,” he alleges.

“If Rwanda accepts to hand over them and convey them to justice, the issue can be completed.”

“We’re calling on our neighbours to respect the peace agreements we’ve made,” Ndayishimiye added. “There isn’t any want for us to go to conflict. We would like dialogue, however we won’t sit idle if we’re attacked.”

“We do not have something to ask [of] Rwanda [in return], however they refuse as a result of they’ve a foul plan – they wished to do what they’re doing within the DRC.”

The Rwanda-Burundi border stays closed lengthy after Purple Tabara rebels carried out a number of assaults on Burundian soil.

Whereas the state of affairs with Rwanda is important, it’s not Burundi’s solely drawback.

To the west, the continued battle in mineral-rich DR Congo has reached a boiling level with insurgent teams, militias, and international events vying to management the nation’s invaluable sources.

“Exterior forces are chargeable for perpetuating this battle. They don’t need peace within the DRC as a result of they need to proceed looting its sources,” Ndayishimiye tells the BBC.

“The disaster within the DRC is just not concerning the individuals – it’s concerning the minerals.”

The answer, he argues, is to carry all events to the desk, together with “all opposition political events and armed teams”, who should “sit collectively and see collectively how they will create the very best future for all residents.”

However in his view all of it relies on whether or not Rwanda will present keen.

“The issue between Rwanda and the DRC is a small drawback, they will resolve it with out killing individuals. For instance, I hear that Rwanda says it’s going there [to DRC] due to the FDLR [a Rwandan rebel group accused of links to the 1994 genocide].

“However who [is being] killed? All I see is Congolese – why do they kill Congolese after they say they’re on the lookout for FDLR?”

Since M23 rebels and Rwandan troops started seizing cities in jap DR Congo in January, conflict has compelled many a whole bunch of 1000’s of Congolese individuals to flee the violence and their properties.

So determined are they to discover security that some have even crossed the Rusizi river in makeshift vessels or swum to attain Burundi, regardless of the damaging journey killing many individuals together with a three-year-old little one.

Dwelling precariously in refugee camps, some say they need to return to their nation however complain that the Burundi-DR Congo border is closed. That is one thing Burundi’s president denies.

“No, our border with the Congo is just not closed. The place did they cross to come into Burundi? Even right now they will use [the Rusizi river] to return.”

When informed by the BBC that crossing the Rusizi rivers places refugees ready of hazard, Ndayishimiye replies: “You recognize, we did not invite them.

“They will return, we won’t refuse them to return. However when they’re right here, they’re as our guests. If a customer comes your home – it is you who chooses the room the place he’ll keep. Even the meals they’ve is what we share. They cannot say I’ll eat meat when you’re consuming fish.”

For the conflict to finish and the Congolese to obtain lasting piece, Ndayishimiye says ⁠the mandate of worldwide forces in DR Congo ought to be expanded in order that they will have interaction the rebels. He has additionally acknowledged that ⁠Burundi forces won’t be withdrawn from DR Congo till Burundi is assured that its borders are secure.

Earlier this month, Southern Africa leaders introduced that their forces can be withdrawn from DR Congo the place they had been serving to combat the M23, after at the very least 19 had been killed.