Rwanda’s foreign minister on Saturday sharply criticised Burundi’s president over efforts to endorse former Senegalese President Macky Sall as Africa’s candidate for the United Nations secretary-general role.
Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe described the move as “flawed.”
He accused Burundian President and African Union chairperson, Evariste Ndayishimiye, of attempting to push the endorsement through the bloc using a “silence procedure.”
The mechanism allows decisions to be adopted if no objections are raised within a set deadline.
Decision-making tool
Burundi defended the move, saying the silence procedure is an established African Union decision-making tool used on numerous occasions.
The African Union Commission said on Friday that 20 member states broke the silence by the March 27 deadline, effectively blocking the draft decision backing Sall.
Following the outcome, Nduhungirehe accused Ndayishimiye of attempting to “force his African counterparts to endorse this gross breach of procedure.”
“It’s unbelievable that a whole continental organization can be tarnished or driven into a crisis by its own chairperson, who has been in office for not even two months,” he said in a post on X.
Senegal’s deny involvement
In a statement, Senegal’s permanent mission to the African Union said Dakar had “not, at any stage, endorsed” Sall’s candidacy and was not associated with the initiative.
Burundi’s permanent representative to the African Union, Willy Nyamitwe, rejected Rwanda’s criticism, calling it “regrettable in both tone and substance” and saying it misrepresented established procedures while unnecessarily personalizing what he described as a routine institutional process.
The diplomatic row reflects broader tensions between Rwanda and Burundi, which have persisted since Burundi closed its border with Rwanda in early 2024.
The closure followed accusations that Rwanda was backing Burundian rebels based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a charge Kigali denies.
African candidates
Nduhungirehe said opposition from member states was aimed at rejecting what he described as a flawed process that violated rules governing African candidacies in international institutions.
Sall remains in the race to succeed current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second term ends in 2026, even without African Union backing.
Other candidates include former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, nominated by Brazil and Mexico; International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, nominated by Argentina; and economist Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica.
