Uganda denies Rwandan accusations that its supporting rebels opposing President Paul Kagame and jailing torturing and deporting its citizens.

The love-hate relationship between Uganda and Rwanda –  who share a political, ethnic and security history – destabilizes the Great Lakes Region.

Rwandan leader Paul Kagame fought to bring Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to power.

Uganda, in turn,  supported Kagame’t Tutsi rebels after the 1994 genocide by Hutus.

Now Uganda’s accused of supporting the Rwanda National Congress led by South African-based Kayumba Nyamwasa and the Hutu rebel group called the Democratic Front For The Liberation of  Rwanda.

Closing two of the three border crossings between the countries has virtually paralysed trade in the region.

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The African union has warned that the warrants against Mali-based Buyoya and 17 former Burundi officials could reignite ethnic conflict in that Great Lakes country.

With a regional summit looming on conflict in Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza is trying to deflect attention away from the problems caused by his power grab.

He’s arrested former military officials for alleged involvement in the 1993 assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye, four months after he became Burundi’s first democratically elected Hutu President.

Now he’s issued arrest warrants for former President Pierre Buyoya and 17 other officials.

The AU warns this could inflame ethnic tensions in a country where more than 300000 died in the civil war following Ndadaye’s murder.

Buyoya was instrumental in negotiating an end to that conflict.

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State Prosecutor Sylvestre Nyandwi says they’ve gathered substantial evidence against the four who will be brought to court as the investigation continues.

The killing of President Melchior Ndadaye sparked a 10-year civil war that cost more than 300 000 lives.

A United Nations report into the assassination was withheld for fear it would spark further ethnic violence.

Finally released in 1996, the report blamed the Tutsi-dominated military for killing Burundi’s first Hutu president.

President Pierre Nkurunziza, who came to power at the end of the civil war has increased tension in the country by extending his term at the helm beyond his constitutional mandate.

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The remarks come days before Rwanda marks the twenty second anniversary of the  genocide of 800 000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates.

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The allegations by President Pierre Nkurunziza and Burundi’s ruling party chief Pascal Nyabende that  President Paul Kagame wants to play the minor imperialist are particularly keenly felt in Rwanda.

US and other  Western powers have expressed concern about Kagame’s meddling in regional affairs.

He’s criticized his Burundian neighbour for taking an unconstitutional third term in power.

But Kagame himself plans to follow suit – albeit after  winning a referendum scrapping presidential term limits in Rwanda.

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The only blue-helmeted unit that has a mandate to operate aggressively to protect the civilian population has a new job in the troubled eastern part of the African giant.

In 2013 South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi constitututed the special intervention brigade fighting and subduing M23 rebels in the eastern DRC.

The South African component comprised two infantry batallions and a squadron of Rooivalk attack helicopters.

They were the first to come under fire in operations that subdued M23.

Now their guns could be turned on former Hutu rebels from Rwanda hiding out in the DRC.

They failed to meet a January 2 deadline to surrender.

The UN Security Council has resolved that all necessary measures must be taken to disarm them.

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The Rwandan rebels, many of whom were involved in the genocide there 21 years ago, have failed to meet last Friday’s deadline to surrender.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says the blue helmets and Congolese forces are preparing their operation against the Hutu extremists who fled across the border from Rwanda after being involved in the 1994 genocide there.

She says the UN force known has MONUSCO has already prepositioned its troops and equipment.

The UN chief envoy in the DRC Martin Kobler has updated the world body’s Security Council in New York on developments but he did not give a date for the start of the military offensive

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Most are still at large, risking action by the Congolese army and United Nations peacekeepers.

Numbering 155, the rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known as the FDLR, surrendered to authorities in North Kivu.

The operation bringing them in is designed to restore calm to the eastern DRC.

The FDLR is thought to include between 1,500 and 2,000 fighters, including those suspected of having participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

They are opposed to Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s Tutsi government.

For years they’ve been based in the eastern DRC, where they have been accused of conscripting child soldiers and of brutal attacks against residents, including rapes and murders.

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