In remarks made on Wednesday, Burundi’s leader Evariste Ndayishimiye warned Rwanda against attacking it as tensions rise over the fatal fight in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a letter to people close to the Rwandan borders, Ndayishimiye issued a stark warning about the potential for a local conflict.
” The one that is going to attack us, we did ourselves attack”, he said in remarks recorded on Tuesday in the border city of Bugabira, branding Rwanda a “bad neighbour”.
” Start to prepare yourselves and do not be afraid”, he said.
He had previously claimed that Kigali was “planning anything against Burundi” and that Rwanda was an “enemy.”
Burundi, where there are 85 % of the population’s Hutu majority and 4 % of Tutsis minority, has high racial tensions.
The country has seen many ethnic killings since independence in 1962 and a 1993-2006 legal conflict that killed up to 300, 000 folks, according to human rights groups.
In neighbouring DR Congo, an progress in recent months by the Rwanda-backed M23 group has left hundreds dead, according to the United Nations.
Rwanda has accused extremist Hutu organizations in the DR Congo of threatening its safety despite not admitting to support M23.
Since October 2023, Burundi’s army has sent thousands of troops to aid the African troops, including a new platoon, just last week.
A popular archbishop spoke out on Monday amid rising conflicts in Burundi.
” We cannot stand by in silence while this war awakes the scars of racial units”, said Bonaventure Nahimana, priest of Muyinga, in remarks broadcast on local television.
Burundi’s Hutu leadership’s social leaders, who declined to be named, told AFP that the conflict’s officials were becoming more concerned and that the danger had been extensively discussed on social media.
