The Rwandan government had on Thursday said Burundi had resolved to shut its border with the East African nation, a few weeks after the Burundian president accused the country of hosting a rebel group.
Burundi’s President, Evariste Ndayishimiye, had in late December accused Rwanda of hosting and training the Red Tabara rebel group, which had taken responsibility for an attack near Burundi’s western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Rwandan government has meanwhile, repudiated his allegations.
A government spokesperson informed Reuters that Rwanda had learned about Burundi’s decision through media reports, adding that the move contravenes the principles of a regional bloc both were part of.
International relations between some nations within the bloc have grown cold for years amid domestic disputes, which also include Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia.
“Today we shut the borders. And someone who will go there will not be able to pass,” Burundi’s interior minister, Martin Niteretse was quoted as saying by the local media.
The minister had not responded to Reuters‘ request for comment.
Burundi has said the December attack took the lives of 20 people while the terrorist group, Red Tabara said on social media platform X that it had only killed nine soldiers and a police officer.
Red Tabara has been fighting the Burundi government from its bases in eastern Congo since 2015.
