Burundi Hands Over 11 Suspected Rwandan Rebels

Burundi on Tuesday handed over to Rwanda 11 suspected Rwandan rebels from the National Liberation Front (FLN) captured recently on Burundian soil.

The suspects were handed over through the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM), a regional military framework for 12 countries in the Great Lakes region.

Rwanda's military intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Vincent Nyakarundi and his Burundian counterpart, Col. Ernest Musaba, witnessed the handover at the eastern land border of Nemba.

Musaba and Nyakarundi said the extradition was a sign of strong cooperation on security between the two countries.

The rebel group operates mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Col. Khalid Mohammed of the EJVM said the "transfer of the suspects was part of efforts to restore peace in the Great Lakes region and would restore trust among Great Lakes member states."

The handover is reciprocal after Rwanda in July, handed over more than 19 Burundian rebels of the Red Tabara rebel group, also based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that were captured on Rwandan soil.

The FLN has been accused of carrying out terrorism in 2018, which claimed the lives of nine Rwandan civilians in southwest Rwanda.

The group, whose leaders were convicted last month by a Rwandan court on terrorism-related charges, is an armed wing of the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD) political organization operating from various places in the region and abroad.​​​​​​​ -