Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye has dramatically ramped up his attacks on Rwandan leadership, even pledging to help topple President Paul Kagame’s government at a youth event in DR Congo’s capital of Kinshasa over the weekend.

Speaking a week after unilaterally closing borders with Rwanda over Kigali’s alleged support of a Burundian rebel outfit based in South Kivu, DR Congo, Gen Ndayishimiye claimed that Rwandan youth were "prisoners” and that he was ready to help "liberate” them.

Ndayishimiye was Saturday addressing a group of Congolese youth, with the green-white-and-yellow flag of the African Union in the background – at an event promoted as conversation between the Burundian leader and Congolese youth in his capacity as the AU Champion for Youth, Peace, and Security agenda. Rwanda has denied Gitega’s allegations and said it regretted the closure of borders.

The controversial event took place on the same day President Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in for a second five-year term amid protests over allegations of electoral fraud.

His remarks, which have sparked outrage on social media, mirror Tshisekedi’s campaign promise to seek the backing of DR Congo’s parliament for an invasion of Rwanda (upon his re-election), with a view to remove President Paul Kagame. Tshisekedi claims Rwanda supports the M23 rebels, a charge Kigali has rejected.

Burundian troops have joined forces with Congolese army, FARDC, and its allies, including the genocidal FDLR militia, a sanctioned Rwandan outfit linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as well as troops from SADC region, against the M23 rebels in DR Congo’s eastern region.

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Gitega’s decision to take sides in the conflict and drift away from EAC’s position to remain impartial and instead play a mediation role came both as a surprise and an enabler of Kinshasa’s preference for war over talks. This put the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) – that had been deployed to DR Congo and which included Burundian units – in a precarious situation. EACRF’s neutrality would rub Kinshasa the wrong way, with Tshisekedi at one point issuing a direct threat to the Force’s commander, Kenya’s Gen. Jeff Nyagah, who later resigned over "personal safety” concerns.

Indeed, Ndayishimiye, who was at the time serving as the Chairperson of EAC, had sent a different contingent of troops to fight alongside the FARDC-led alliance, effectively undermining the position of the very bloc he was leading and, more significantly, the Nairobi and Luanda processes that sought to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

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By the time EACRF began to withdraw from DR Congo after Kinshasa opposed extension of its mandate last month, Burundi had doubled down on its support for Tshisekedi’s regime, which also allowed Rwanda’s southern neighbour to pursue Burundian rebels inside DR Congo.

Unconfirmed reports would later emerge that Ndayishimiye had been paid handsomely – reportedly a hefty US$5,000 a month for every Burundi National Defence Force soldier fighting on the side of the Congolese army – although the troops on front lines were said to be receiving only a small fraction of the payout.

A bizarre picture of Ndayishimiye posing with the leader of a notorious Wazalendo militia, which is backing the government forces in the war against the M23 rebels and has been cited in attacks against civilians, later circulated on social media following the meeting in Kinshasa, raising further questions around the Burundian president’s intentions.

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Jostling for cash

Meanwhile, in the hours that followed Ndayishimiye’s controversial remarks, a video surfaced on social media showing some of the participants jostling for cash ostensibly for showing up to the event.

But what’s increasingly steering Burundi towards a path of armed confrontation with Rwanda?

"Gluttony,” said one regional observer based in Kigali. "Neva (moniker for Ndayishimiye) has been blinded by Tshisekedi’s dirty money, you can say he’s been bribed into destroying relations between Rwanda and Burundi,” added the analyst, who agreed to comment on condition of anonymity. "Domestic economic troubles, including a dire shortage of petroleum products and fertilisers, could also be a factor, but the main driver is his selfish motivations.”

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For retired politician and diplomat Prof. Joseph Nsengimana, the Burundian president’s "words and actions suggest that he could be harbouring an underlying ideology of genocide, which he shares with the Congolese president”.

He accused President Tshisekedi of carrying out a systematic genocidal campaign against ethnic Tutsi and other Rwandophone communities in the Congo, adding; "in this sense, the two men are birds of a feather.”

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Remarks ‘stood against AU ideals’

In calling for cross-border violence and pledging support toward schemes to create havoc in Rwanda, the former Rwandan envoy to the United Nations and African Union said Ndayishimiye acted contrary to the ideals of peace and security espoused by the African Union, under whose banner he addressed the gathering. "His words and actions stand in stark contrast to what he purported to represent at that event. I hope the African Union will come out to denounce and disassociate itself from his dangerous words, otherwise they’d be accomplices.

The active involvement of the genocidal FDLR militants in the conflict in eastern DR Congo on the side of the Congolese army has been of a particular concern, with Kigali saying in September last year that it remained "deeply concerned about the ongoing collaboration and arming of FDLR and indigenous armed groups by the government in Kinshasa”.

Burundi has previously been linked to a plan to destabilise Rwanda through supporting FDLR, FLN, RNC and other negative groups, with some of the finer details of the plot emerging during a 2019 trial of a group of former combatants. Some of these armed groups have in the past staged bloody attacks on Rwanda through Burundi, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Claims ‘grossly unfounded’

Roselyne Nyirahategekimana, 28, the chief executive of Work Roselyn Ltd, an agribusiness firm that deals in natural hibiscus teas, questioned Ndayishimiye’s intentions, saying, "as a young Rwandan I condemn the statement of the President of Burundi. The Government of Rwanda has provided a platform for the youth to participate in decision-making processes, and university students get scholarships based on meritocracy.”

"The Government also promotes career guidance so as to shape a bright future for young people, does everything in its powers to create jobs and to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, while the youth in private sector, like me, are encouraged and facilitated to make the most of both domestic and international markets,” she said.

Nyirahategekimana added, "you can see that there is a deliberate effort to continuously empower the youth and to prepare them for the appropriate time when the baton will be based on. (Ndayishimiye’s) claims are grossly inaccurate and unfounded.”