Burundi has deployed a battalion in North Kivu as part of the EAC Regional Force, tasked with helping Kinshasa restore peace in eastern DRC, where more than 200 armed groups coexist. But alongside this regional force, widely criticized by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi for his refusal to attack the M23, Burundi has since deployed other soldiers as part of a secret military cooperation agreement signed last August in Kinshasa, according to Burundian military sources and civil society. But this deployment is now controversial on social networks.
2 mins
These are three battalions, to which a fourth has just been added since last Saturday, which were secretly deployed in North Kivu as part of this military agreement, according to military sources and civil society.
Their mission? Lend a hand to the FARDC in their war against the M23 rebels. And to go unnoticed, these Burundian soldiers, members of the TAFOC, Task Force or the Burundian “Intervention Force” in French, wear the uniform of the Congolese army and are installed in several of its camps.
They had managed for two months to carry out their operations with the greatest discretion, but the clashes which took place in the Masisi territory on November 5 turned into a fiasco for them, according to the same sources. A few days ago, the M23 exhibited three Burundian soldiers taken prisoner during this fighting and who were recognized by members of their families.
Since then, the Burundian organization Focode has formally identified and published photos of around fifteen soldiers killed and another fifteen captured during these combats. Its president Pacifique Nininahazwe, who lives in exile, publicly demanded explanations from the Burundian head of state, Evariste Ndayishimiye. “ This is a contradiction that surprises us and we ask the president to clarify this situation, because it dishonors Burundi and it also dishonors the East African community. »
Burundi chairs the East African Community and this community sent a regional force to enforce the ceasefire in Congo and Burundi is participating in this force. But at the same time, we discovered that Burundi secretly sent battalions of the Burundian army to fight against the M23. This is a contradiction that surprises us.
Pacifique Nininahazwe, president of the Focode organization
The affair is causing a lot of noise on social networks, but so far, neither the government nor the army have agreed to comment on this secret deployment of Burundian soldiers in the DRC.