Before the closure of the border with Rwanda by the Burundi government which was announced by the Burundi minister of interior Martin Niteretse on January 12, the Burundi President, Évariste Ndayishimiye had made scathing accusations against Rwanda of backing RED-Tabara a Burundi rebel group operating in Congo.
Rwandan officials who have since denounced the move as a contravention to the principles of the EAC, say Rwanda has been making efforts to revive bilateral ties with Burundi since 2015.
Burundi previously closed its borders with Rwanda in 2015 during political violence in Burundi. The border reopened in 2022.
Reacting to the border closure, Kigali stated that the “unfortunate decision will restrict the free movement of people and goods between the two countries, and violates the principles of regional cooperation and integration of the East African Community.”
Rwandan officials say they have been calling on Burundi to address its concerns through diplomatic channels where they can be resolved amicably, and wish to have good relations with all their regional peers.
Rwanda officials say they have always shown goodwill to their Burundi counterparts. For instance, Rwanda officials say, that in 2013 when the Bujumbura market was on fire, Rwandan military helicopters were deployed to help extinguish the fire. Rwanda sent a MIL MI 17 (RAF 0105) fitted with additional equipment to pick up water from an open reservoir.
In the spirit of cooperation, July 2021 saw Rwanda handing over to Burundi 19 Burundian combatants who illegally crossed from Burundi to Rwanda on September 29, 2020. The combatants were apprehended while crossing into Rwanda along a border stretch in Nyungwe forest, in Nyaruguru District. Rwandan authorities informed the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) before taking them into custody.
Their handover to Burundi was facilitated by EJVM and witnessed by the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region on July 30, 2021, at Burundi-Rwanda Nemba Border Post.
Rwandan officials also say that they provided Ndayishimiye with intelligence of a coup plot being planned by former Burundian Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, who wanted the Burundian President killed. The intelligence was verified by Burundian authorities, leading to Bunyoni’s arrest, trial, and later being sentenced to life in prison.
According to the officials, different Rwandan officials have been traveling to Burundi even though bilateral relations were slow. In February 2023, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was welcomed in Burundi where he attended an extraordinary EAC summit on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) crisis.
Earlier, in July 2021, Rwanda’s Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente visited Bujumbura for the Independence Day celebrations. This was the first time a high-profile official from Rwanda traveled to Burundi since the political crisis erupted there in 2015.
In October 2023, Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame participated in a high-level forum of Women Leaders in Bujumbura, at the invitation of Burundi’s First Lady Angeline Ndayishimiye.
Rwanda, a good neighbor, paid Burundi’s contribution to the East African Community estimated to be $1 million in 2008 when the southern neighbor was heavily affected by an economic crisis.
According to Rwanda’s official statements on the matter, the country states they can never gain from an insecure Burundi.
Written by Millan Kiplagat. The writer is a regular commentator on social and political issues.
