Rwanda planning to attack Burundi, claims President Ndayishimiye

Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye has sensationally claimed that Rwanda is planning an attack against his country in a fresh move that may raise tension between the two countries.

President Ndayishimiye told the BBC he has credible intelligence that Kigali is organising an attack to attack his country.

The head of state also claimed that Rwanda led by President Paul Kagame had tried to organise a coup 10 years ago in Burundi, comparing it to the crisis that is currently ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, Kigali referred to the president's comments as "surprising" and maintained that the two nations are currently working well on security plans for their shared border, which has been closed for over a year now.

Even with multiple United Nations reports implicating it over arming and backing the M23 rebel group, Rwanda has denied any participation in acts of violence in the DRC.

Kigali has equally denied links to the resurgent Red Tabara rebel group, which President Ndayishimiye says is a proxy force similar to the M23 and is being supported by Rwanda to destabilise Burundi.

"They would say it's an internal problem when it's Rwanda [who is] the problem. We know that he [Rwanda's President Paul Kagame] has a plan to attack Burundi," Ndayishimiye added.

"Burundians will not accept to be killed as Congolese are being killed. Burundian people are fighters. But now we don't have any plans to attack Rwanda. We want to resolve that problem by dialogue."

At the centre of Ndayishimiye's revelation was a rallying call for peace and the full implementation of an agreement between the two warring countries.

Peace deal

The disgruntled president believes that a peace deal that had been signed in previous years but, according to Burundi, had not been honoured by Rwanda.

"The people who did the 2015 coup [were] organised by Rwanda, and then they ran away. Rwanda organised them - it went to recruit the youth in Mahama camp. It trained them, it gave them arms, it financed them. They are living in the hands of Rwanda," he alleges.

"If Rwanda accepts to hand over them and bring them to justice, the problem would be finished."

According to the president, his country is rallying on Rwanda to respect the peace agreements they have made.

"There is no need for us to go to war. We want dialogue, but we will not sit idle if we are attacked.

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"We don't have anything to ask [of] Rwanda [in return], but they refuse because they have a bad plan - they wanted to do what they're doing in the DRC."

Currently, the Rwanda-Burundi border is still closed long after the Red Tabara rebels carried out several attacks inside Burundi.

To the west, the ongoing conflict in mineral-rich DR Congo has reached a boiling point with rebel groups, militias, and foreign parties vying to control the country's valuable resources.

"External forces are responsible for perpetuating this conflict. They do not want peace in the DRC because they want to continue looting its resources," Ndayishimiye told the BBC.

"The crisis in the DRC is not about the people - it is about the minerals."

To end the conflict believes that all the parties should come to the table, including "all opposition political parties and armed groups", who must "sit together and see together how they can create the best future for all citizens"

But in his view, it all depends on whether Rwanda will show willingness. "The problem between Rwanda and the DRC is a small problem, they can resolve it without killing people. For example, I hear that Rwanda says it is going there [to DRC] because of the FDLR [a Rwandan rebel group accused of links to the 1994 genocide].