President Ndayishimiye should come out clear on restoring Burundi Rwanda relations.

President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye

On Sunday 24^th  January 2021, Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimye presided over a function to inaugurate his replacement as the Secretary General of the ruling party CNDD-FDD, a position that remained vacant   after his election to the presidency in May 2020.  The general assembly of the ruling party which took place at the political capital – Gitega, nominated a former Member of Parliament and Senator, Reverien Ndikuriyo as the new Secretary General of CNDD-FDD.

In his speech, President Evariste Ndayishimiye made remarks about restoring Burundi-Rwanda relations that has been severed since 2015. The president’s statement which implied that he had great hope in the restoration of good relation with Rwanda in the near future, sounded like good news to many people in the region and beyond, believing that the Burundian leader had changed his position.

It should be recalled that in August 2020, while speaking in Kirundo, one of the provinces that border with Rwanda, Ndayishimiye said that, “we cannot have relations with a country that uses hypocrisy.” He added on that,  “the refugees were taken as  hostages to shield those who committed crimes in Burundi, we know that.”

 The remarks by President Ndayishimiye on restoring bilateral relations between Burundi and Rwanda seem to have raised hopes for many. Yes, it would be a good achievement for Burundians and Rwandans alike. As political scientists put, in the game of politics, there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests. More so, to Rwanda and Burundi, they are permanent neighbors who share a lot in common.  However, as much as the message by the Burundian leader sounded good and hopeful on face value, in essence it apportioned blame on the part of Rwanda and lacked clarity on what the Burundi government has done on addressing Rwanda’s security concerns.

    President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye  was not clear on Burundi’s side to normalize Rwanda-Burundi Relations

A question one may ask, is on what caused the Burundi-Rwanda fall out in the first place? Following the 2015 post-election violence in Burundi, thousands of Burundians fled their country and sought refuge in Rwanda. The Burundian authorities accused Rwanda of harboring and supporting Burundi coup plotters, an accusation that Rwanda repeatedly denied.

Rwanda on its part, accused Burundi of supporting Rwandan dissident armed groups including CNRD/FLN. The rebel groups have been accused of using Burundi as their base to plan and launch deadly attacks on the territory of Rwanda. Rwandan rebel leaders like Brig. Gen. Hakizimana Antoine alias Jeva, his assistant LT Col. Fabien Mukeshimana alias Kamali/Kamayi and Rusanganwa Felix alias Gwado,  and other FNL rebel members are known to be living in Burundi supported by the government in their subversive activities against Rwanda.

Instead of apportioning blame saying that “Rwanda knows what to do” for the two countries to restore good relations, the  Burundian president must come out clear on what Burundi has done, as far as stopping all support to Rwandan rebels operating in Burundi, or arrest and hand them over to Rwanda or even expel them from operating on Burundian territory.

President Ndayishimye should walk the talk, rather than playing Mr. clean. Some political analysts, who listened to the speech, are of the view that the good sounding words and the exoneration of Burundi, were probably meant to hoodwink members of the international community who attended the function into thinking that Rwanda is the trouble causer of the retrained relations with Burundi since 2015.

In June 2020, immediately after the swearing in of President Ndayishimiye, Journalists Francois Soudan of Jeune Afrique and Nicholas Norbrook of The African Report interviewed president Kagame on a number of issues including Rwanda’s diplomatic relations in the region. Talking about the relationship with Burundi, President Kagame said that the intention his government is to have good relations with all the neighbors, and Rwanda has always shown willingness to restore good relations with Burundi. The government also sent a congratulatory message to President Ndayishimye for his election as the President of Burundi, a practice under normal circumstances done between countries that enjoy cordial relationship.   

In October 2020, the Ministers of Foreign affairs of the two countries met at the border point of Nemba, the first high level meeting since the frosty relations began in 2015. Efforts to find a lasting solution towards the restoration of good relations between Burundi and Rwanda are a step in the right direction, and should be done in mutual trust and transparent manner. Restoration of bilateral relations is beneficial to the citizens of both countries as it facilitates free movement of people, and doing business, which are some of the pillars of the East African Community integration agenda.