AA / Pascal Mulegwa
Rwanda and Burundi pledged, on the occasion of the commemoration of the fifty-ninth anniversary of Burundi’s independence, on July 1, to normalize their relations, by strengthening their bilateral cooperation after more than five years of tensions.
“We are ready to open a new chapter and to bury the hatchet between Burundi and Rwanda, and we are ready to work with Rwanda,” said Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye during the solemn ceremony in Gitega, the Burundian capital.
Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, on behalf of Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, announced that “the time has come for Burundi and Rwanda to build on the solid foundations of our historical and cultural ties in order to to achieve prosperity and sustainable development ”.
He said he was “convinced that we are all ready to work for the consolidation and promotion of the existing relations of friendship and cooperation for the benefit of our two peoples”.
These statements marked a new start in the normalization of relations between the two neighboring states, but which accused each other of fueling rebellions.
The two capitals, Gitega and Kigali, had been at loggerheads since 2015 after Gitega accused Kigali of sustaining a movement of refugees, mostly Tutsi, which fueled the ambition to overthrow the Nkurunziza regime.
This is the first visit by a Rwandan head of state or government to Burundi since the deterioration of relations between the two neighbors in 2015.
With the advent of Evariste Ndayishimiye at the head of Burundi, a detente was imposed between the two countries. The Burundian army in particular carried out offensives against the Rwandan rebellion of the FLN, author of raids on Rwandan territory from the Burundian forest of Kibira.
Rwanda has closed the media of Burundian opponents who have since been broadcasting on its territory.
On the other hand, the DRC, which shares its borders with the two countries, has followed the momentum since the coming to power of Felix Tshisekedi in 2019.
Already in 2020, the Congolese army announced that it had recovered the headquarters of the Burundian rebels FNL (National Liberation Forces (Burundi) led by Aloise Nzabampema.
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