Burundi president Evariste Ndayishimiye called on Rwanda to handover 2015 coup plotters during a meeting with the United Nations’ Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Huang Xia in Bujumbura.
As Mr. Huang Xia visited Burundi’s presidency at state house, Burundi’s president Evariste Ndayishimiye said that his country didn’t need any mediator to normalize the relation with neighboring Rwanda, “it is due to the fact that Rwanda is hosting the 2015 coup plotters and there is no need for foreign mediator.”
“Rwanda has a strong will to hand over the alleged Burundian putschists to the Burundian authorities but Rwanda wants to do so through a mechanism or a mediator country” Huang Xia said.
However President Ndayishimiye recalled that the United Nations is built on respect for the rule of law, the fight against impunity and the strengthening of responsibility, and that it would be asking for one thing and it’s opposite by taking the negotiating and complacency route in the case of people prosecuted by the Burundian justice for crimes committed.
“Justice is not negotiable, failure to respect the law inexorably causes violation of civil and political rights and this could condemn Burundians for a handful of individuals who have bereaved them,” said President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Burundi and Rwanda relations went to an all-time low since 2015 when the late former president Pierre Nkurunziza vied for a third term in the office, opposition members say that the move was unconstitutional which spark violent protests that claimed hundreds of lives.
Burundi accused Rwanda of hosting the coup plotters, while Rwanda in return accused Burundi of hosting FDLR rebels accused by Kigali of committing the 1994 genocide.