Burundi reopens its borders with Rwanda

​​​​KIGALI, Rwanda

Authorities in Burundi announced Saturday that the country’s land borders with Rwanda had been reopened more than five years after they were closed.

The small country of Burundi closed its borders with Rwanda in 2016 over the issue of alleged perpetrators of an attempted coup in 2015 that Rwanda reportedly refused to extradite.

“All of Burundi's borders with its neighboring countries are open. Burundi is an accessible country,” the Interior Ministry announced on Twitter.

Foreign Ministry authorization to travel to Rwanda from Burundi is no longer required, according to authorities.

Burundi has been demanding that the coup suspects, currently living in exile in Rwanda, be handed over as a condition for normalizing relations.