{"id":2000102286,"date":"2026-02-17T19:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000102286"},"modified":"2026-02-18T13:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:20:38","slug":"ex-burundi-vp-gaston-sindimwo-challenges-calls-for-rwanda-to-lift-defensive-measures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/ex-burundi-vp-gaston-sindimwo-challenges-calls-for-rwanda-to-lift-defensive-measures\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Burundi VP Sindimwo challenges calls for Rwanda to lift defensive measures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on Africa TV YouTube channel, Sindimwo suggested that those pressuring Rwanda to lift security measures along its border may have ulterior motives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you come and tell me to lift my country\u2019s defensive measures, what do you want? You want to attack me,\u201d he said. \u201cAs for the Washington agreement, I don\u2019t see anything meaningful in it given the ongoing tensions in the DRC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has called on countries including the United States to impose sanctions on Rwanda, accusing it of violating a peace agreement signed in Washington on December 4, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sindimwo argued that sanctions would have little real impact on a country, noting that Burundi itself faced sanctions in 2016 yet continued to function. In his view, such measures mainly serve to intimidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are things that make me laugh,\u201d he said. \u201cThey impose sanctions on you, so what happens? Were we not sanctioned? Did we stop existing? That is intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the National Dialogue Council held on February 5, 2026, President Paul Kagame explained that Rwanda deployed defensive measures along its border to prevent attacks by the FDLR terrorist group operating in eastern DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Kagame stressed that Rwanda will not accept any situation that undermines its security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sindimwo expressed support for Kagame\u2019s decision to safeguard Rwanda\u2019s security, saying no form of intimidation should prevent a leader from protecting their country and its citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gaston Sindimwo served as the Vice President of Burundi from 2015 to 2020. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaston Sindimwo, who served as Vice President of Burundi from 2015 to 2020, questioned the logic of repeatedly urging Rwanda to lift defensive measures while it continues to cite security threats linked to developments in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2000102287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000102286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000102287,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","alt":"","caption":"Gaston Sindimwo, who served as Vice President of Burundi from 2015 to 2020, questioned the logic of repeatedly urging Rwanda to lift defensive measures while it continues to cite security threats linked to developments in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":562,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","width":1000,"height":562},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/abn.jpg","width":1000,"height":562}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000102286"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102356,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102286\/revisions\/2000102356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000102287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000102286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000102286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000102286"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000102286"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000102286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}