REPORT: RWANDA ACCUSED OF TRAINING BURUNDI REFUGEES
A confidential report accuses Rwanda of recruiting Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Nkurunziza.
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS – A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of recruiting and training Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The report by experts who monitor sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, which was seen by Reuters on Wednesday, contained the strongest testimony yet that Rwanda is meddling in Burundi affairs and comes amid fears that worsening political violence could escalate into mass atrocities.
The report cites accounts from several rebel fighters, who told the sanctions monitors the training was done in a forest camp in Rwanda.
Nkurunziza's re-election for a third term last year sparked the country's crisis and raised concerns that there could be a bloody ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still fresh.
The experts said in the report that they had spoken with 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo's South Kivu province.
"They all told the group that they had been recruited in the Mahama Refugee Camp in eastern Rwanda in May and June 2015 and were given two months of military training by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel," according to the report.
The Burundian combatants, which included six children, told the UN experts they were trained in military tactics, use of assault rifles and machine guns, grenades, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
They said there were at least four companies of 100 recruits each being trained in a forest camp while they were there.
"They were transported around Rwanda in the back of military trucks, often with Rwandan military escort," the UN experts wrote. "They reported that their ultimate goal was to remove Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza from power."
Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.
Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana dismissed the accusations against Kigali contained in the report and told Reuters, "This further undermines the credibility of the Group of Experts, which seems to have extended its own mandate, but apparently investigating Burundi."
The UN report did not say why the Burundian fighters had crossed into Congo. But Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev said last month that there had been reports of Burundian rebels trying to recruit more fighters in Congo.
"The Burundian combatants showed the group fake DRC identification cards that had been produced for them in Rwanda, so they could avoid suspicion while in the DRC," the report said.
Burundi accused Rwanda in December of supporting a rebel group that was recruiting Burundian refugees on Rwandan soil, but Rwandan President Paul Kagame dismissed the allegations as "childish."
The accusations by Burundi were prompted by the charity Refugees International, which said in a December report it was "deeply concerned" by claims of Burundian refugees in Rwanda that they were being recruited by "non-state armed groups".
The UN Security Council travelled to Burundi in late January, its second visit to the country in less than 10 months. The United Nations has estimated the death toll at 439 people but has said it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad and the country's economy is in crisis.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said during the visit to Burundi that the 15-member council had expressed concern about the allegations of external interference.
Burundi crisis: Allegations against Rwanda 'unfounded'
4 February 2016
Rwanda has dismissed allegations in a leaked UN report that it is training Burundian refugees who want to overthrow President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The report, which has been seen by the Reuters news agency, is based on evidence from 18 Burundian fighters.
Similar allegations have been made by Burundi's government.
A political crisis in the country, sparked by President Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term last April, has led thousands to flee.
Seventy thousand of the 240,000 Burundians who have left the country since the crisis began are living in Rwanda.
"The unfounded allegations come from the fact that Rwanda has been hosting refugees considered hostile to [the government in Burundi's capital] Bujumbura," Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a statement emailed to the BBC.
The UN experts behind the report gathered the evidence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are monitoring UN sanctions.
The Burundian fighters told them that they had been recruited in May and June last year and given two months of military training by the Rwandans, and then given fake identity cards to cross into DR Congo, Reuters reports.
They also said there were four companies, each made up of 100 Burundian rebels, still in Rwanda.
In dismissing this evidence, Ms Mushikiwabo said the crisis in Burundi was of the country's "own making" and people should focus on that rather than "look for scapegoats".
On Wednesday, Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD party accused Rwanda's President Paul Kagame of plotting to overthrow Mr Nkurunziza.
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura reports that Burundi's Foreign Minister Alain Nyamwite told journalists that the leaked UN report provided further evidence of what the government had been saying.
Last July, Burundi's government said that Rwanda had allowed rebels to cross into the north-west of the country.
Burundi's deepening crisis:
April 2015: Protests erupt after President Pierre Nkurunziza announces he will seek a third term in office.
May 2015: Constitutional court rules in favour of Mr Nkurunziza, amid reports of judges being intimidated. Tens of thousands flee violence amid protests.
May 2015: Army officers launch a coup attempt, which fails.
July 2015: Elections are held, with Mr Nkurunziza re-elected. The polls are disputed, with opposition leader Agathon Rwasa describing them as "a joke"
November 2015: Burundi government gives those opposing President Nkurunziza's third term five days to surrender their weapons ahead of a promised crackdown.
November 2015: UN warns it is less equipped to deal with violence in Burundi than it was for the Rwandan genocide.
December 2015: 87 people killed on one day as soldiers respond to an attack on military sites in Bujumbura.
January 2016: Amnesty International publishes satellite images it says are believed to be mass graves close to where December's killings took place.
UN experts find bid to smuggle Congo arms via Rwanda to Burundi rebels
By REUTERS
Feb. 05, 2016, 9:00 am
A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council found there have been attempts to smuggle weapons from Democratic Republic of Congo through Rwanda to rebels in Burundi where a political crisis threatens to spiral out of control.
The report by experts who monitor sanctions on DRC said Congolese authorities arrested Rwandan and Congolese civilians and two Congolese army officers in October and November on suspicion of arms smuggling.
They were caught at a border post between Congo and Rwanda with weapons, some of which "were hidden in bags of green beans or manioc, and others were hidden in the chassis of a car," the group of UN experts wrote in the report, seen by Reuters this week.
"The group conducted interviews with the perpetrators, some of whom confirmed that the weapons were to be used in support of an armed group in Burundi," the experts said.
"The group was able to identify one of the (Congolese army) officers as having been involved in selling arms from (Congolese army) storage."
The UN experts did not say how many weapons were seized.
The Congolese army spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the UN report.
The UN report also accused Rwandan military of helping recruit and train Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza. Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana dismissed the accusations against Kigali.
Nkurunziza's re-election for a third term last year sparked the country's crisis and raised concerns that there could be a bloody ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still fresh.
Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 per cent Hutus and 15 per cent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.
The UN Security Council traveled to Burundi in late January, its second visit to the country in less than 10 months.
The United Nations has estimated the death toll at 439 people in political violence since last April but has said it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad and the country's economy is in crisis.
African leaders, who met in Addis Ababa last weekend, agreed to send a team to try to persuade Nkurunziza to accept a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force after he rejected the plan and said any such force would be treated as an invasion.
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS – A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of recruiting and training Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The report by experts who monitor sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, which was seen by Reuters on Wednesday, contained the strongest testimony yet that Rwanda is meddling in Burundi affairs and comes amid fears that worsening political violence could escalate into mass atrocities.
The report cites accounts from several rebel fighters, who told the sanctions monitors the training was done in a forest camp in Rwanda.
Nkurunziza's re-election for a third term last year sparked the country's crisis and raised concerns that there could be a bloody ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still fresh.
The experts said in the report that they had spoken with 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo's South Kivu province.
"They all told the group that they had been recruited in the Mahama Refugee Camp in eastern Rwanda in May and June 2015 and were given two months of military training by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel," according to the report.
The Burundian combatants, which included six children, told the UN experts they were trained in military tactics, use of assault rifles and machine guns, grenades, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
They said there were at least four companies of 100 recruits each being trained in a forest camp while they were there.
"They were transported around Rwanda in the back of military trucks, often with Rwandan military escort," the UN experts wrote. "They reported that their ultimate goal was to remove Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza from power."
Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.
Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana dismissed the accusations against Kigali contained in the report and told Reuters, "This further undermines the credibility of the Group of Experts, which seems to have extended its own mandate, but apparently investigating Burundi."
The UN report did not say why the Burundian fighters had crossed into Congo. But Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev said last month that there had been reports of Burundian rebels trying to recruit more fighters in Congo.
"The Burundian combatants showed the group fake DRC identification cards that had been produced for them in Rwanda, so they could avoid suspicion while in the DRC," the report said.
Burundi accused Rwanda in December of supporting a rebel group that was recruiting Burundian refugees on Rwandan soil, but Rwandan President Paul Kagame dismissed the allegations as "childish."
The accusations by Burundi were prompted by the charity Refugees International, which said in a December report it was "deeply concerned" by claims of Burundian refugees in Rwanda that they were being recruited by "non-state armed groups".
The UN Security Council travelled to Burundi in late January, its second visit to the country in less than 10 months. The United Nations has estimated the death toll at 439 people but has said it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad and the country's economy is in crisis.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said during the visit to Burundi that the 15-member council had expressed concern about the allegations of external interference.
Burundi crisis: Allegations against Rwanda 'unfounded'
4 February 2016
Rwanda has dismissed allegations in a leaked UN report that it is training Burundian refugees who want to overthrow President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The report, which has been seen by the Reuters news agency, is based on evidence from 18 Burundian fighters.
Similar allegations have been made by Burundi's government.
A political crisis in the country, sparked by President Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term last April, has led thousands to flee.
Seventy thousand of the 240,000 Burundians who have left the country since the crisis began are living in Rwanda.
"The unfounded allegations come from the fact that Rwanda has been hosting refugees considered hostile to [the government in Burundi's capital] Bujumbura," Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a statement emailed to the BBC.
The UN experts behind the report gathered the evidence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are monitoring UN sanctions.
The Burundian fighters told them that they had been recruited in May and June last year and given two months of military training by the Rwandans, and then given fake identity cards to cross into DR Congo, Reuters reports.
They also said there were four companies, each made up of 100 Burundian rebels, still in Rwanda.
In dismissing this evidence, Ms Mushikiwabo said the crisis in Burundi was of the country's "own making" and people should focus on that rather than "look for scapegoats".
On Wednesday, Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD party accused Rwanda's President Paul Kagame of plotting to overthrow Mr Nkurunziza.
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura reports that Burundi's Foreign Minister Alain Nyamwite told journalists that the leaked UN report provided further evidence of what the government had been saying.
Last July, Burundi's government said that Rwanda had allowed rebels to cross into the north-west of the country.
Burundi's deepening crisis:
April 2015: Protests erupt after President Pierre Nkurunziza announces he will seek a third term in office.
May 2015: Constitutional court rules in favour of Mr Nkurunziza, amid reports of judges being intimidated. Tens of thousands flee violence amid protests.
May 2015: Army officers launch a coup attempt, which fails.
July 2015: Elections are held, with Mr Nkurunziza re-elected. The polls are disputed, with opposition leader Agathon Rwasa describing them as "a joke"
November 2015: Burundi government gives those opposing President Nkurunziza's third term five days to surrender their weapons ahead of a promised crackdown.
November 2015: UN warns it is less equipped to deal with violence in Burundi than it was for the Rwandan genocide.
December 2015: 87 people killed on one day as soldiers respond to an attack on military sites in Bujumbura.
January 2016: Amnesty International publishes satellite images it says are believed to be mass graves close to where December's killings took place.
UN experts find bid to smuggle Congo arms via Rwanda to Burundi rebels
By REUTERS
Feb. 05, 2016, 9:00 am
A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council found there have been attempts to smuggle weapons from Democratic Republic of Congo through Rwanda to rebels in Burundi where a political crisis threatens to spiral out of control.
The report by experts who monitor sanctions on DRC said Congolese authorities arrested Rwandan and Congolese civilians and two Congolese army officers in October and November on suspicion of arms smuggling.
They were caught at a border post between Congo and Rwanda with weapons, some of which "were hidden in bags of green beans or manioc, and others were hidden in the chassis of a car," the group of UN experts wrote in the report, seen by Reuters this week.
"The group conducted interviews with the perpetrators, some of whom confirmed that the weapons were to be used in support of an armed group in Burundi," the experts said.
"The group was able to identify one of the (Congolese army) officers as having been involved in selling arms from (Congolese army) storage."
The UN experts did not say how many weapons were seized.
The Congolese army spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the UN report.
The UN report also accused Rwandan military of helping recruit and train Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza. Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana dismissed the accusations against Kigali.
Nkurunziza's re-election for a third term last year sparked the country's crisis and raised concerns that there could be a bloody ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still fresh.
Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 per cent Hutus and 15 per cent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.
The UN Security Council traveled to Burundi in late January, its second visit to the country in less than 10 months.
The United Nations has estimated the death toll at 439 people in political violence since last April but has said it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad and the country's economy is in crisis.
African leaders, who met in Addis Ababa last weekend, agreed to send a team to try to persuade Nkurunziza to accept a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force after he rejected the plan and said any such force would be treated as an invasion.
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