The President of Burundi began a visit to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on August 27, 2023. Évariste Ndayishimiye is the current president of the East African Community (EAC), a sub-regional organization which has a deployed military force in North Kivu, eastern DRC.
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The president of Burundi is currently visiting Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ground floor). Arrived on the evening of August 27, Évariste Ndayishimiye was welcomed by Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.
This August 28 morning, he meets his counterpart Félix Tshisekedi, before a press conference scheduled for the afternoon. Defense and security issues will of course be at the heart of these exchanges.
Évariste Ndayishimiye already met the Congolese president yesterday evening during a dinner organized in the wake of the presidential palace of Mont Ngaliema. And this morning, official working session of the two Heads of State. Finally, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the strengthening of political and military relations. Agreement, the outlines of which will be partly revealed during the final press conference which began at the Palais de la Nation at midday.
The two Heads of State reiterated their attachment to respecting the roadmaps signed within the framework of the Nairobi and Luanda processes concerning in particular the conflict with the M23 rebel movement. They also noted the lack of quartering of members of the rebellion and called for it to intervene as quickly as possible.
On the evening of August 27, 2023, the Head of State HE @GeneralNeva took part in a welcome banquet organized in his honor by his counterpart HE Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo. It was a great opportunity for the two Heads of State to share moments of conviviality. pic.twitter.com/7vfmWS2b2A
— Ntare Rushatsi House (@NtareHouse) August 28, 2023
It should be recalled that Évariste Ndayishimiye is involved in more than one capacity in the various initiatives for peace in eastern DRC. He took over as head of the Regional Monitoring Mechanism of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement last May. Mechanism which is currently being evaluated.
But, above all, the Burundian president is the current president of the East African Community (EAC). The region that has deployed a military force in North Kivu. Force repeatedly criticized by Kinshasa. In the end, only the Burundian contingent escaped criticism. Contingent of around 1,000 men which is on two fronts: against the rebels of the M23, but also against the RED-Tabara, an armed group active on the border of the two countries in South Kivu.
A visit which comes as another military force is expected in the area by the end of the year, that of the Southern African region (SADC), of which Burundi is not a member, but which will necessarily have an impact on the activities of the East African, Kenyan, Ugandan, South Sudanese and therefore Burundian soldiers, already present in eastern DRC.
Read alsoDRC: an assessment mission on the EAC force begins in the east of the country