Speaking during a press conference at the Kigali Convention Centre on Monday, President Kagame said Rwanda had never made such a commitment to Burundi.
“There is no commitment we ever made that we did not fulfil, not with the President of Burundi, not with anybody,” Kagame said, adding that perhaps Ndayishimiye had “dreamt and thought it had happened.”
Ndayishimiye, in an interview with BBC Gahuzamiryango in July 2026, said Burundi was still waiting for Rwanda to fulfil what the two countries had agreed upon. When asked to specify the matter, he said it concerned the transfer to Bujumbura of individuals accused of attempting to overthrow Nkurunziza in May 2015.
Kagame said he was unaware of any meeting or agreement in which Rwanda had committed to handing over the suspects.
The Head of State accused Ndayishimiye of being dishonest, recounting a conversation the two leaders had following reports that Burundi had deployed troops to North Kivu Province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kagame said Rwanda’s intelligence services had informed him about the deployment, prompting him to call Ndayishimiye to seek clarification. He also raised concerns over reports linking Burundi to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), as well as earlier incursions into Rwanda by armed groups operating from Burundi, including the FLN.
According to Kagame, Ndayishimiye strongly denied that Burundian forces had been deployed to North Kivu and urged him to cross-check the information, suggesting that those who had provided the reports were attempting to cause problems.
“I said, President, I will take your word, much as I think the reports I received were credible, but I will take your word for it,” Kagame said.
However, Kagame said the reports were subsequently confirmed when Burundian soldiers were captured in North Kivu by AFC/M23 fighters.
“A couple of weeks after, they were captured in the north of Kivu,” he remarked.
Kagame said he therefore did not know what commitment or meeting Ndayishimiye was referring to when he claimed Rwanda had failed to honour an agreement regarding the 2015 coup suspects.
Rwanda has in the past said it cannot hand over the persons linked to the coup because they are refugees protected under international law.
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