Burundi’s president claims Rwanda is backing rebels fighting against his country

By ELOGE WILLY KANEZA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Burundi’s president has accused Rwanda of funding and training rebels behind an attack last week on the village of Gatumba, close to Burundi’s border with Congo, that killed at least 20 people. A Burundian armed rebel group known as RED-Tabara and based in South Kivu, eastern Congo, took responsibility for the attack in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The group, which denied having targeted civilians, claimed to have killed nine soldiers and a police officer. Burundian authorities consider RED-Tabara a terrorist movement. In a national radio broadcast, President Evariste Ndayishimiye claimed on Friday the RED-Tabara “are fed, sheltered, hosted and maintained in terms of logistics and financial means by … Rwanda.”