Burundi Alleges Rwanda for Plans to Attack

March 27, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

Despite extensive UN evidence, Rwanda has always denied arming and backing the M23 rebel group, which has recently seized large parts of eastern DR Congo alongside Rwandan troops.

Burundi’s president has said that he has seen “credible intelligence” that Rwanda plans to attack his country. Évariste Ndayishimiye also said that Rwanda had tried to launch a coup a decade ago in Burundi, akin to “what it’s doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo” now. Rwanda has already hit back, calling the president’s comments “surprising” and insisting that the two neighbours are cooperating on security plans for their shared border, which has been shut for over a year.

Despite extensive UN evidence, Rwanda has always denied arming and backing the M23 rebel group, which has recently seized large parts of eastern DR Congo alongside Rwandan troops. Rwanda has also denied links to the resurgent Red Tabara rebel group, which President Ndayishimiye says is a proxy force similar to the M23 and is being supported by Rwanda to destabilise Burundi. “They would say it’s an internal problem when it’s Rwanda [who is] the problem. We know that he [Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame] has a plan to attack Burundi,” Ndayishimiye added. “Burundians will not accept to be killed as Congolese are being killed.

To the west, the ongoing conflict in mineral-rich DR Congo has reached a boiling point, with rebel groups, militias, and foreign parties vying to control the country’s valuable resources.

The solution, he argues, is to bring all parties to the table, including “all opposition political parties and armed groups”, who must “sit together and see together how they can create the best future for all citizens”. But in his view, it all depends on whether Rwanda will show willing.