Below are two out of many reports today to the effect that the USA has decided to admit openly that the destabilisation of Burundi is orchestrated in Rwanda. _____
Bloomberg.gif U.S. Says Rwanda May Be Stoking Conflict in Neighboring Burundi Saul Butera, Bloomberg, 11 February 2016 A senior U.S. official expressed concern that Rwanda could be engaging in activities such as training rebels that would further destabilize its East African neighbor Burundi, site of a nine-month political crisis. There are "credible reports" that Burundian refugees are being recruited from camps in Rwanda to take part in attacks by Burundi's armed opposition against President Pierre Nkurunziza's government, Thomas Perriello, U.S. special envoy for the Great Lakes of Africa, told a senate committee in Washington. Perriello recently met three Burundian former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who alleged they'd been recruited in Rwandan camps, trained and led into Congo as preparation to fight in their home country, he said Wednesday, according to an online transcript. The U.S. has called on Rwanda's government to investigate these claims and "uphold the strictly civilian character" of the camps, he said. Landlocked Burundi is home to 6 percent of the world's nickel reserves. From: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-11/u-s-says-rwanda-may-be-sto king-conflict-in-neighboring-burundi News24white.png US accuses Rwanda of destabilising Burundi News24, Washington, 11 February 2016 The United States accused Rwanda on Wednesday of involvement in "destabilising activities" in strife-torn Burundi, including the recruitment of refugees for armed attacks against the government. The US concerns were raised in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by two top diplomats, who cited reports from colleagues in the field that point to Rwandan involvement in the Burundi crisis. "There are credible reports of recruitment of Burundian refugees out of camps in Rwanda to participate in armed attacks by Burundian armed opposition against the Burundian government," said Thomas Perriello, US envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told the senators" "We have seen a number of reports from our colleagues in the field that suggest [that] the Rwandan government has been involved in destabilizing activities in Burundi." It is the first time the United States has publicly accused the government in Kigali of involvement in the crisis in neighbouring Burundi. The United States historically has been an ally of Rwanda, but relations between the two have chilled in recent years. Relations between Rwanda and Burundi are at a low point, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of supporting its opponents and serving as a rear base for a nascent insurgency. Rwanda rejects the accusations. A UN panel reported last week that Burundian refugees had been recruited at a refugee camp in eastern Rwanda in May and June 2015, and given two months of military training. The refugees said their "ultimate goal" was to remove Nkurunziza from power, according to the report. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has dismissed the accusations as "childish." From: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/us-accuses-rwanda-of-destabilising-burundi -20160211 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
