THE President of Burundi told the BBC on Monday that Rwanda is planning to attack his country.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye told the BBC that he has been given “credible intelligence” that Rwanda has developed plans to attack.

Rwanda slammed the accusation as “surprising” and insisted that the two neighbours have continued to co-operate over security plans for their shared border.

The border has been closed for more than a year after the Red Tabara militia carried out a number of attacks on Burundian soil.

Rwanda claims to have no links to Red Tabara, which President Ndayishimiye alleges to be a proxy force along similar lines to the M23 militia which is at war with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Ndayishimiye told the BBC: “They would say it’s an internal problem when it’s Rwanda who is the problem. We know that Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has a plan to attack Burundi.

“There is no need for us to go to war. We want dialogue, but we will not sit idle if we are attacked.”

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached boiling point as Rwanda-backed militias fight to gain control over the country’s valuable mineral resources.

President Ndayishimiye said that the crisis in the DRC “is about the minerals,” with external forces “responsible for perpetuating the conflict.”