News broke last week that Burundi had arrested a Rwandan national who was allegedly on a spying mission on their territory.

On Monday, Burundian officials paraded the young man, showing him off to the media as "proof” that Rwanda was the root cause of the ongoing conflict.

According to the overzealous Burundian officials, the man was a member of Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF).

By any standards, arresting a spy on a mission always makes big news. And so was the case this time.

However, in less than a week, it has emerged that the alleged spy, Cyprien Rucyahintare, who is in his early 20s, has never served under RDF, has a record of petty crime and is described by his family as "mentally unstable.”

When local media visited his family in Rweru, Bugesera District, they were shown, in the presence of neighbours, video footage of Rucyahintare’s ‘confession’ he delivered when paraded by Burundian officials in front of the media.

Rweru Sector is only kilometres from Rwanda’s border with Burundi.

Rucyahintare’s identity and family was quickly confirmed, dispelling his claims that his father had passed on."He is my son,” Estras Nsabimana said, sending those around in laughter. But it is no joke.

The father added that he is neither surprised by his son’s claims to have been in the army or the fact that he was arrested.

"Just before he disappeared on March 3, he broke into my house and stole 50 kilogrammes of beans,” the father said, before going on to give other cases of petty crimes his son had committed, some of which he had to compensate himself.

One of the most recent cases was in September, last year, when Rucyahintare was convicted of theft. He had stolen Rwf150,000 and had to sell the land his father gave him to pay back.

For city dwellers, this may seem a small amount but to Rweru residents, this is a fortune considering it is the kind of money that would pay his rent for two years.

But what was most shocking was his younger brother revealing that Rucyahintare was mentally unstable.

"He sometimes left his house to sleep in a nearby graveyard saying he would like to spend the night with his mother who passed away a while back,” the brother says.

The issue is not so much in the disarranged life of Rucyahintare, but the extent to which Burundian officials are determined to go, to shift blame for the ongoing conflict in the country.

So far, more than 400 people have been brutally killed, individuals are disappearing every day and 250,000 have fled Burundi.

For the Burundian government to use a mentally unstable young man for its propaganda campaign says a lot about them and their handling of the conflict.

After being paraded before the media, next in line are ambassadors and foreign missions accredited to Burundi – all seemingly gullible players – in the attempt to divert attention from the ongoing conflict and buy into the rhetoric that Burundi’s problem is actually Rwanda.

Why hasn’t anyone realised that the alleged spy is an individual who is actually vulnerable and needs help? Is it because blaming Rwanda makes better read and is cover up to the numerous unsuccessful ‘high-level’ delegations that have travelled to Burundi to broker peace deals?

The pattern of lies from the Burundian officials reveals a lot; first it was claims that bodies found in Burundi were of Rwandans killed and dumped in River Rweru.

Then, they asked a Rwandan chief executive who was heading a telecom firm in Burundi to leave because of spying and then came the story of child soldiers and recruiting from refugee camps.

One thing for sure, the web of lies will neither free Burundians from the immense suffering they have to endure nor help the vulnerable ‘spy’ who needs treatment.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw