Burundi’s Foreign Minister Édouard Bizimana has warned that the continued anti-Burundians sentiments in Kenya could starin the relationship between Kenya and Burundi.
Through his social media platform Bizimana has gone short of saying that the sentiments could lead to hostility against Kenyans living in Burundi.
“Kenyans live peacefully in Burundi. But if this hate speech against Burundi continues, things will certainly change.”
The terse warning follows the September 7th deadline by President William Ruto for all undocumented and illegal migrants to leave Kenya.
The warning has largely been interpreted as targeting Burundians and Rwandans who engage in hawking of foodstuff and semi-skilled labor work such as hairdressing.
The anti-immigrant sentiment has caught traction online with a number of Kenyans alleging that the foreigners have driven them out of business.
“Burundians you have to go home whether you like it or not. Congolese you too have to go home. You have destroyed your countries and we will not allow you to bring ammunition to Kenya.” A man who identifies himself as Engineer Kevin is captured saying in a now viral video.
The allegations are unfounded with no formal statement from The National Police Service (NPS) linking Burundians to criminal or violent acts in Kenya.
The order by President William Ruto was in reaction to a complaint by Micro and Small Enterprise businessmen who were raising concerns about the invasion of Chinese businessmen in Kenya’s retail space.
