As senior officers of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) briefed a team of military experts from the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM), on October 5, a group of youthful individuals in their late twenties seated under eucalyptus trees looked on.
The individuals, dressed in ragged non-military uniforms with some possessing dreadlocks, are Burundian militants who were apprehended in September by Rwandan forces after illegally crossing into the country.
Giving the first detailed account of how the militants were captured on Tuesday, September 29, Major Alex Nkuranga, said the 19 armed Burundians had crossed into the Rwandan territory when the RDF forces on patrol captured them.
"It was in the morning hours at 10:00 on September 29,” he narrated flanked by General Frank Mutembe, the commanding officer of the 307 Battalion, and other senior officers.
Nkuranga said it was during the normal patrol routines that the RDF soldiers saw a group of armed militants 600 metres into their territory.
"It was an ambush,” he told a five-member team of EJVM military experts from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Kenya.
The military experts then started posing questions to Nkuranga, ranging from when the Burundian fighters were captured, what they possessed, whether they tried to fight the Rwandan forces, and so on.
The Burundian officer, Alfred Mayuyu who was part of the expert team, then gave a short speech.
"On my behalf, and on behalf of Burundi, I want to thank the RDF for the job well done to apprehend these combatants.”
He added: "These criminals have terrorized the region, killing innocent people. It (intercepting them) is a sign of hope of the cooperation between Burundi and Rwanda.”
The team, led by Col. Rigobert Ibouanga of Congo-Brazzaville, then proceeded to talk to the seemingly tired fighters.
The mission leader informed them their aim and the task they came to carry out.
According to the RDF, the Burundian fighters, who claimed to be part of RED Tabara, had a machine gun, one RPG launcher, 17 SMGs (AK 47), and 2 walkie talkies of Motorola type.
Mouvement de la Résistance pour un État de Droit (RED) - Tabara is an armed group that has been fighting the Burundian government for some time now.
Investigation underway
Rwanda Defence Force had written to the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism, asking them to investigate the circumstances under which the armed group crossed into Rwanda.
The mechanism works under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) which brings together 12 countries from the region, including Rwanda.
Speaking to the media in Nyaruguru, Col. Ibouanga, the head of the team of experts, said their main role was to investigate the matter and make a report to military chiefs from the region.
"We have come here to verify what happens on the ground. We shall make a report by Wednesday, which will be submitted to the military chiefs of the Great Lakes region,” he noted.
Ibouanga indicated that a meeting of chiefs of defence staff will take place October 13, during which the report that will have been submitted will be discussed.
That meeting will take the final decision about the incident.
In any way, Ibouanga insists that they should surrender and put down weapons to bring lasting peace to the region.
Egide Nkurunziza, the leader of the seized armed group, admitted to being part of RED Tabara, saying they were captured after a month fighting Burundian government forces and Imbonerakure.
"We were fighting the enemy, when we unknowingly found ourselves into the Rwandan territory. We really had no idea because the forests from where we were fighting are almost similar,” he told the media.
Nkurunziza, with dreadlocks, revealed that they started fighting the Burundian government from the eastern DR Congo.
He never mentioned the exact place from where they started their operations, but he highlighted that they acquired support from the region and bought weapons from DR Congo.
Nkurunziza said they fought in Burundian forests of Muruta, Kabarore, and Musigati.