Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
On Tuesday March 5, 2024, the Government of Burundi, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation represented by Ambassador Albert Shingiro, contacted His Excellency the President of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa to react to the false statements of the Republic of Rwanda contained in the correspondence addressed to the President of the African Union Commission.
Burundi and Rwanda had established excellent friendly relations and tried to strengthen them in 2006 through the 6th Session of the Great Joint Rwanda-Burundian Cooperation Commission held in Bujumbura from 8 to 9th May, 2006. Those Relations have been deteriorated since the outbreak of the crisis arising from the mandate of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The Burundian side did not want to maintain that fierce climate between Burundi and Rwanda. The Burundian authorities have demonstrated their desire to regulate the relations. The two neighboring countries had demonstrated a shared desire to assess the state of bilateral relations between them and to agree on the modalities of their normalization, through the working visits by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Burundian Minister Ambassador Albert Shingiro met his Rwandan counterpart Vincent Biruta in Nemba-Gasenyi, Rwanda on 20th October 2020.
Through its correspondence, the Rwandan Government accuses Burundi of hosting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) on its territory, which is, for the Government of Burundi, a strategy to distract the international opinion. For Burundi, Rwanda hosts the putschists of 2015 and continues to support the terrorist group Red Tabara which continues to mourn Burundi with its attacks in the localities of Kabarore, Ruhagarika, Gatumba and Buringa. Furthermore, the Burundian Government deplores any cunning act on the part of the Republic of Rwanda which is characterized by the violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. Burundi calls on the President of the African Union Commission to enforce the law so that the putschists return to their native country to be judged and arrest the sponsors in the aim of annihilating the Red Tabara terrorist group.
The Burundian side always reaffirms a non-interference in the affairs of other countries but expresses that it always remains inclined towards the peaceful resolution of conflicts and intervening when necessary as it did in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Somalia in through the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and in the Central African Republic through the United Nations’ Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic. (MINUSCA).
