Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, has dismissed as baseless a recent claim by Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye that Rwanda agreed, five months ago, to hand over soldiers accused of attempting a coup in Burundi in 2015, noting that the two countries haven’t held any talks at all since the start of this year.
He made the comments in an interview with journalist Venuste Nshimiyimana on the YouTube channel Agasaro Kaburaga, which covered Rwanda’s relations with its neighbors to the south and west.
Asked about the strained relationship between Rwanda and Burundi, tensions that have simmered for over a decade but sharpened in recent years, Nduhungirehe said no talks are currently taking place between the two governments.
“We’re not holding any talks with the Burundian government at the moment. The last engagement took place in December last year, on the 14th and 18th, at the border, between security and intelligence services,” he said.
He said those talks followed fighting in Uvira, where the AFC/M23 coalition seized the city in an assault that also struck Burundian troops stationed there, an incident he said risked destabilizing Rwanda’s own security as well.
He added that Rwanda had also held talks with Burundi after the fall of Goma and Bukavu, with both sides agreeing on steps meant to ease the rising tension between the two countries.
“But instead of following through, we heard President Ndayishimiye accusing us of planning to attack, distorting what had been agreed. We told our Burundian counterparts: ‘We had reached an understanding, why is your President now saying something else?’ And that’s where things stalled,” he said.
Nduhungirehe said no further talks have taken place since the start of this year, and that he was taken aback by Ndayishimiye’s recent remarks.
“I was genuinely surprised to hear President Ndayishimiye tell BBC Gahuzamiryango that, five months ago, Rwanda agreed to hand Burundi the soldiers accused of the 2015 coup attempt. That matter was never discussed this year, and we never agreed to any such thing,” he said.
He said discussions on this specific issue last took place three years ago and did not reach any conclusion, as Burundi had made certain requests it never followed through on.
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