Rwanda military rubbishes Burundi spy allegations

Rwanda’s military has dismissed claims that a man arrested on the border with Burundi was a spy.

#Rwanda dismisses reports from #Burundi officials after they paraded a man they called a Rwandan spy https://t.co/AcXeS90l7k

— Eddie Rwema (@edrwema) March 13, 2016

Burundi forces had on Saturday paraded a man identified as Corporal Rucyahintare Cyprien, accusing him of being on a spying mission.

But on Sunday, Rwanda’s army spokesperson, Joseph Nzabamwita, termed the allegations as baseless.

“The RDF (Rwanda Defence Force) has no missing soldiers, no such name exists in the RDF,” he told the AFP.

According to Burundi officials, the man was in the country to negotiate with an order of nuns to determine if they would be willing to hide 200 fighters involved in attacks in the country.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza controversially decided to run for a third term and went on to win in July 2015.

Subsequent unrests in the country has left over 400 people dead while around 250,000 have fled into neighbouring countries.