Burundi : a Rwandan soldier arrested after crossing the border

SOS Médias Burundi,

Kirundo, September 24, 2025 – A Rwandan sergeant, Emmanuel Sadiki, a driver with the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), was intercepted on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, approximately 700 meters after crossing the Gasenyi-Nemba border. The incident occurred in Busoni district, in Butanyerera province, in northern Burundi, which borders Rwanda.

According to Burundian authorities, the soldier was returning from a bar near the Gako military barrack in Rwanda and explained that he had missed his way back to the cabaret. He attempted to escape during his arrest, but was unsuccessful. According to witnesses who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi, he is currently held in the Kirundo police station cell in the same province, where investigations are continuing.

Burundi’s land borders with Rwanda were reopened after President Évariste Ndayishimiye came to power in June 2020, following the death of his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, but were closed again in January 2024. The Burundian government accuses Kigali of harboring the 2015 coup plotters and supporting armed groups hostile to Gitega, allegations that Kigali formally denies.

Tensions are heightened by the conflict in eastern DRC, where the M23 armed group, suspected of receiving Rwandan support, continues to advance and control several mineral-rich areas. Burundi has deployed approximately 10,000 troops to eastern Congo alongside the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) and allied militias to counter the M23. President Ndayishimiye recently warned his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame : “We will not accept dying like the Congolese who are being killed like goats.”

The Rwandan army expressed regret over the border incident in a statement and announced that it would undertake the necessary diplomatic efforts for the repatriation of Sergeant Sadiki.