In his speech at the ending the year , President Evariste Ndayishimiye announced that this country can close its borders with Rwanda again. It happened last night.
At that time, Ndayishimiye said “We remember the joy that Rwandans had when they saw Lake Tanganyika again, they were proud of having fishes and legumes from us but they become our enemies due to the authorities “.
“What we have decided is that we are going to take all measures so that the children of Burundi will not be oppressed again.”
Burundian authorities have accused Rwanda of helping the RED-Tabara group which disrupt security and kill people in Burundi in recent attacks. What Rwanda denied.
The new decision to close the border did not come alone, the minister of administration and security in Burundi, Martin Nitegetse, in a meeting with the authorities in Kayanza province, said that Rwandans are not needed in Burundi.
“… We don’t need their own people, and those who were here on the land we drove them away.” He said
The decision doesn’t sound well in the ears of Rwandans and Burundians
Burundians and Rwandans who spoke to the Deep news Rwanda about this decision showed that although the Burundian authorities have reasons for taking this decision, they see it as a step backwards.
It was one year ago that the Burundian Aimé Claude Nkurunziza restarted business between Kigali and Bujumbura through the land route, after years of not working because of the bad atmosphere between the two governments.
In a written message, Nkurunziza, who is in Bujumbura, said: “It was starting to go well. This does not benefit anyone, security is the priority, but both governments are concerned about how we live. I think it shouldn’t be closed again.”
Honorine Gatesi, who lives in the city of Huye ( the south of Rwanda), also says that she recently started traveling to Ngozi in Burundi to visit her family members, but she no longer goes there.
On social media, many pointed out that the border closures are hurting the cross border traders, as well as the economy in general.
Between 2015 and 2022, Burundi closed its border with Rwanda, a citizen of Burundi who crosses the land route is allowed to go to Rwanda with written permission from the government.
Only Rwandair flights to Bujumbura were not stopped at that time, and people who were able to book flights continued to travel between these countries, which some said that closing the land borders is oppressing the weak rather than the strong given the reasons for the instability. .
It is not yet known whether the new border closure decision applies only to those on land.
The Authority of Burundi say that what they put before others is the security of people in the country, and they accuse Rwanda that those who disturb its security come from there. What the Rwandan government denies.
A failed Coup d’etat in 2015 is a main roots of Conflict
The recent conflict between the government of Gitega and Kigali started in 2015 after a failed Coup d’etat when Gen. Godfroid Niyombare wanted to remove former President Petero Nkurunziza They are the number of refugees from Rwanda.
Gen. Niyombare is one of the senior solders whom the Burundian authorities continue to say that Rwanda hosts, but it does not want to allow him to be prosecuted by the judiciary in Burundi. Last year, President Ndayishimiye told the BBC: “As long as they don’t give us the criminals, the problem will not be solved.”
Rwanda does not deny sheltering some of the coup attempters who fled in 2015, and the Burundian authorities say that the talks to hand them over last year “were far advanced”.
“We thought it was over, we would see that there were only planes or cars left, and then we would see it standing still.” Last week, Révérien Ndikurio, the secretary general of the ruling party in Burundi, CNDD-FDD, told reporters:
Rwanda has not said anything about this, it is not clear if it actually happened, or why it stopped it. What is known is that there have been talks since 2022 between the representatives of the two countries, and the relationship seemed to be good, until recently.
The RED-Tabara attacks and wars in DR Congo among catalyzers
In the war in eastern DR Congo, the government of Gitega was accused of sending troops secretly to help the government of Kinshasa fight against the M23 rebels. While the government of Kigali is said to be helping the M23 group. The rulers of Burundi denied this, as did those of Rwanda.
Only the latest report of the UN experts says that the armies of these two countries are fighting on each side of each other in the east of the DR Congo.
Some analysts link the situation in the DR Congo to the stagnation of the resumption of relations between Burundi and Rwanda, and to the backwardness.
Last month’s RED-Tabara attack killed civilians in Burundi and some say it was the trigger for things to get to where they are today.
What will be the end?
Between 2015 and 2022, when the borders of these countries were closed, Economists have said that it was the biggest crisis in recent history that has had a very negative impact on the people of Rwanda and Burundi.
There is a lot of fear that the situation is going to get worse again if nothing is done, the people of these countries are considered to be very poor, and the only solution is the trading.
On Facebook, Kevin Mugabo wrote: “This is one of the signs of how backward our region is. How can a political issue at this level deprive the people of the country of their basic rights?”
Carine Ivy at X (formerly Twitter) said: “Our leaders should put political interests aside and think about the interests of the people.”
Fabien Igiraneza on X also said: “If the problem of Congo is not resolved, it is difficult for CPGL to find peace”.
“The victims of all this are us minorities. All those rulers do not need to cross the Akanyaru borders, we need them to resolve the issue.”Honorine Gates said
Eric Twahirwa
