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A diplomatic row between Burundi and Rwanda took out a new front as Burundi closed its borders with its neighbour, Burundi’s Interior Minister Martin Niteretse said in a statement.
Burundi accused Rwanda of funding rebel attacks. Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye was accused in December after 20 people were killed near Burundi’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rwandan President Paul Kagame denies the charge. His government has responded to the border closure saying that it regretted the unilateral closure of the border by Burundi.
Red Tabara admitted to carrying out the December attack but said they killed nine soldiers and one police officer. The Burundian rebel group operates from DR Congo’s South Kivu province bordering Burundi. It is not the first time that Burundi has shut its borders with Rwanda.
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In 2015 its authorities closed borders to Rwanda due to political tensions and then because of COVID-19. It took seven years for them to be reopened even though land crossings were never interrupted. For Rwanda, the latest is yet another diplomatic tension after that of the DR Congo. In July 2023, DR Congo’s army said Rwandan forces crossed its border and attacked its frontier security forces, potentially escalating tensions between the central African neighbours.
