Tensions between Burundi and Rwanda escalated this week after controversial comments by Burundi’s ambassador to Belgium sparked sharp condemnation from Kigali and prompted a defence from senior Burundian officials.
The dispute centers on remarks made by Thérence Ntahiraja, Burundi’s ambassador accredited to the Belgium, during an interview circulated online in which he appeared to suggest that Rwanda could face armed retaliation.
The comments drew an immediate response from Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister, who accused the Burundian envoy of endorsing violence and invoking the presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group linked to perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
“That a Burundian ambassador accredited to the Kingdom of Belgium would allow himself, despite being well aware of diplomatic ethics, to impunely make such an incendiary declaration against a neighbouring state, promising to support an attack by the genocidal FDLR against Rwanda, should raise questions,” Nduhungirehe wrote on X.
The Rwandan minister’s statement quickly amplified the controversy across the region, where relations between Kigali and Bujumbura have remained fragile for years amid recurring accusations of cross-border destabilization.
Ntahiraja later defended his comments on X, directly responding to the Rwandan minister.
“Mister Minister, are you forgetting that your country has aggressed its neighbor the DRC? Are you sure that the Congolese cannot reverse the formula? In everything I have said, I have fully respected ethics. Know that the truth hurts, but reassures the victims,” the ambassador wrote.
The exchange has intensified scrutiny over diplomatic rhetoric between the two neighbouring countries, particularly at a time of heightened insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Rwanda has repeatedly faced accusations from Kinshasa and United Nations experts of backing the M23 rebellion.
As criticism mounted, Willy Nyamitwe stepped in to defend Ntahiraja, arguing that the ambassador’s interview had been manipulated.
“The interview of Amb. Ntahiraja was taken out of context and truncated to make him say what he never said,” Nyamitwe said on X. “His message was nevertheless clear: ‘Burundi never attacks its neighbors, but it has the right and the capacity to defend itself if it is attacked.’”
The episode has reopened longstanding tensions between Burundi and Rwanda, whose relations deteriorated sharply after Burundi’s 2015 political crisis. At the time, the government of President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s predecessor accused Rwanda of supporting Burundian rebels seeking to overthrow the government claims Kigali rejected.
Although both countries have periodically signaled willingness to normalise relations, mutual distrust has persisted. Burundi has in recent years deployed troops to eastern Congo as part of regional security operations targeting armed groups, while Rwanda has remained under international pressure over allegations related to the conflict in North and South Kivu.
Diplomatic analysts say the latest public confrontation risks undermining already fragile regional cooperation efforts within the East African Community, particularly as regional leaders attempt to stabilise eastern Congo through military and political initiatives.
The controversy also highlights the increasingly confrontational role social media is playing in regional diplomacy, where ministers, ambassadors and presidential advisers now frequently exchange accusations publicly rather than through traditional diplomatic channels.
Neither the Burundian nor Rwandan governments had issued an official formal communiqué on the dispute by Tuesday evening.
