Burundi has announced the closure of all land borders with Rwanda for an indefinite period. A decision justified by the Interior Minister with the “bad neighborliness of Paul Kagame”, which according to him hides all the country’s enemies. A decision taken while the two countries seemed to be on the path to normalizing their relations for more than a year, when Gitega reopened the border with Rwanda, closed at the height of the 2015 crisis in Burundi. This is the attack on a village located near Gatumba, about fifteen kilometers east of Bujumbura and therefore opposite Uvira in the DRC, claimed by the Burundian rebels of RED-Tabara who set fire to the powder. But this seems to be the tree that hides the forest.
Published on: 01/13/2024 – 04:11
2 minutes
The president of Burundi will see red after this attack, and violently attacks Rwanda, accused of “ host, finance and arm » the RED-Tabara rebels who he describes as “ terrorists ».
Problem: this incursion took place far from the Rwandan border and was led by Burundian rebels based in South Kivu, where Gitega’s army has been conducting military operations to evict them for more than a year.
But General Evariste Ndayishimiye is not worried about it, since in reality relations with Kigali began to deteriorate when he signed a military agreement with Kinshasa more than five months ago. Since then, according to the UN, Burundi has secretly committed up to four battalions of soldiers fighting alongside the FARDC in North Kivu, against the Rwanda-backed M23.
Read also Rwanda: at the border crossing with Burundi, populations caught by surprise by the closure of the borders
Today Gitega does not give up, specialists estimate, after having lost dozens of soldiers in these battles and having had to face the beginning of a mutiny in his contingent in the DRC, and while he suspects that Kigali has saved weapons and fighters a RED -The rebellion of Tabara who, according to him, was losing momentum.
The president of Burundi therefore had to react, internal sources explain. Especially since the Rwandan issue began to deeply divide those around him.
For their part, the opposition and independent civil society in Burundi reacted by denouncing “ a diversionary maneuver » of the power that tries to make people forget what it describes as “ failure in state management », pointing out shortages of all kinds, soaring prices, a cruel lack of foreign currency or even the extreme impoverishment of the population.
Read alsoBurundi closes its land borders with neighboring Rwanda for an indefinite period
2024-01-13 03:11:29
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