The RED Tabara armed group, which has been fighting the Burundian government since 2015, has accused President Evariste Ndayishimiye of supporting Rwanda in its attack on their country.
In an interview with the BBC, Ndayishimiye said he had reliable information confirming that Rwanda was planning to attack Bujumbura through RED Tabara, which is based in South Kivu province.
He said, “We know that Rwanda is trying to attack us through the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo, through the RED Tabara group.
But we tell them that if they want to attack Bujumbura through Congo, we are not far from Kigali through Kirundo.”
In December 2023, Ndayishimiye began accusing Rwanda of supporting RED Tabara, after the group attacked the Gatumba zone in Bujumbura, only to respond that no one opposing the Burundian government was providing assistance.
In a statement issued on March 26, 2025 by RED Tabara's military spokesman, Patrick Nahimana, the group denied Ndayishimiye's claims, explaining that its supporters are Burundians. Nahimana said, "RED Tabara denies and continues to receive support from this country or anyone else. Our struggle is supported only by Burundians who understand the reasons for its existence, which are based on: returning to respect for the law and the Arusha Accords violated by the CNDD-FDD government, which have led to the political turmoil in Burundi since 2015."
RED Tabara recalled that in July 2021, the Rwandan government handed over to Burundi its fighters who were captured in Nyungwe Park in September 2020, when they were coming from the Kibira forest.
It also stated that it is incomprehensible that Rwanda would help it while it is continuing talks with Burundi aimed at normalizing relations that ended in late 2023, as a result of the attack it carried out in Gatumba.
“How could Rwanda help RED Tabara while it is continuing talks with Burundi aimed at resolving these differences?” The armed group indicated that Ndayishimiye is currently mentioning Rwanda “every time he opens his mouth”, aiming to mislead Burundians and the international community so that they do not pay attention to the economic problems facing Burundi.
It asked inspectors who wish to do so to visit its bases to find evidence of whether it is indeed being supported by Rwanda. Ndayishimiye said that the Burundian government will never negotiate with RED Tabara, but that the fighters of this armed group should be prosecuted, saying, “We cannot negotiate with murderers.”
RED Tabara called on international organizations that supported the Arusha peace accords to put pressure on Ndayishimiye to agree to negotiate with the political and military groups that oppose him.
He pointed out that if these organizations, including the United Nations and the African Union, had forced the Burundian government to negotiate with its opponents, it would have laid down its arms long ago.
