Burundi's President says Rwanda is backing rebels fighting against his country

Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Friday accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing rebels blamed for a string of attacks on his country's soil, including a deadly raid a week ago.

Burundi said the RED-Tabara group carried out an attack on December 22 near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and killed 20 people including women and children.

"These armed groups have been provided with shelter, food, offices and money from the country that hosts them. I mean Rwanda," Ndayishimiye said at an event in eastern Burundi broadcast by local media. 

He vowed to fight the rebels "with all our energy".

The Burundian leader's claims were rejected by the Rwandan government and RED-Tabara.

The group, which has a base in the eastern DRC province of South Kivu, emerged in 2011 and is now the most active of Burundi's rebel groups with an estimated force of between 500 and 800 fighters.

"I told Rwanda it should know that if it continues to help someone who kills children, it is cultivating the virus of hatred between the peoples of these two countries," Ndayishimiye said.

He said Burundi had been trying in vain for two years to persuade Kigali to hand over the rebels so they can face justice.

"I think the future is bleak for this country that is helping them," he added, without elaborating.

The government in Kigali denied the claims, saying in a statement sent to AFP: "Rwanda is not associated, in any way, with any Burundian armed group."

It added that it had previously handed over Burundian militants who had "illegally crossed into Rwanda".

 Years of deadly attacks 

The Burundian government had said all but one of those killed on December 22 in the town of Vugizo were civilians, including 12 children and three women, two of whom were pregnant.

RED-Tabara claimed responsibility in a message on X, formerly Twitter, saying it targeted a border post and killed nine military personnel and a policeman.

In another post on X on Friday, it denied it killed any civilians and said the group "is not supported by any country. It only has the support of the Burundian people".

RED-Tabara is accused of waging deadly violence in the East African country since 2015 but had not been active there since September 2021, when it carried out several attacks, including on the airport in the main city of Bujumbura.

Relations between Burundi and Rwanda have often been tempestuous. Although ties began improving after Ndayishimiye took power in 2020, they have soured again over Burundi's involvement in the DRC.

Burundian forces have for several years been conducting joint operations with their Congolese counterparts against rebels in the restive and mineral-rich eastern DRC, which has long been plagued by numerous armed groups.

Burundi also joined an East African force that was deployed in November 2022 to quell the DRC violence but its soldiers withdrew earlier this month after Kinshasa refused to extend the mission's mandate.