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Bujumbura : nearly 800 Congolese police and military personnel have fled to Burundi

At least 532 Congolese police officers fleeing clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army and its allies have already been officially listed by Burundian services. They are hosted in the center of the country while 250 Congolese soldiers (who are not officially recognized) are gathered in the province of Cibitoke in the northwest of the small East African nation.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Until Wednesday evening, the Burundian immigration services had registered 532 Congolese police officers who recently fled to Burundi. Among them are two women who have four children. These officers fled with their weapons.

« They were separated from civilians and taken to a center in Muramvya province (central Burundi), » a PNB (Burundi National Police) officer assigned to a department attached to the office of the Burundian Minister of Internal Affairs told SOS Médias Burundi.

The new figures were confirmed Wednesday evening by Maurice Mbonimpa, the Commissioner General of Migrations, while earlier in the day, the Burundian Minister of Internal Affairs Martin Niteretse had spoken of a hundred Congolese police officers already received by Burundi.

Reception in Muramvya

A resident of central Muramvya told SOS Médias Burundi that she saw PNB trucks « dropping off Congolese police officers at the royal stadium ». The information was confirmed Thursday morning by a police source attached to the General Inspectorate of the Burundian Police.

« After their arrival, the provincial governor went to take bread and doughnuts by force from bakeries in the provincial town center. These breads and doughnuts were intended to feed these Congolese police officers », added the resident of Muramvya.

In the town center of Muramvya, many residents returned earlier than expected, after seeing the arrival of these Congolese police officers, aboard Burundian police vehicles.

Cibitoke hosts soldiers not officially recognized

Since Tuesday, February 18, the Cibitoke camp in northwestern Burundi – the 112th infantry battalion, has received 250 Congolese soldiers. They arrived on the Burundian soil by taking the river Rusizi, separating the DRC and Burundi.

« They are recovered at the localities of Kaburantwa, Rusiga and Rukana on the banks of the Rusizi in the districts of Rugombo and Buganda », confided on condition of anonymity a Burundian military source, to a reporter from SOS Médias Burundi based in the region.

Until now, Burundian authorities have not yet officially communicated on the escape of these Congolese soldiers. In the war against the M23, the Burundian army, the FDNB (Burundi National Defense Force) has deployed nearly 10,000 men on the Congolese territory as part of bilateral cooperation between Burundian and Congolese governments. After the capture of Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the main city in eastern Congo on January 27 and the fall of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, the Burundian army began to withdraw its soldiers from the Congolese soil « on the advice of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in particular ». Since February 18, SOS Médias Burundi has already learned of at least 359 Burundian soldiers who have been received in the Cibitoke camp alone, along with FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) elements.

A reception center for new Congolese refugees in Cibitoke province in northwestern Burundi, February 2025 (SOS Médias Burundi)

On February 18, Brigadier General Gaspard Baratuza, spokesman for the Burundian army, denied this information, stating that « FDNB soldiers deployed in Congo continue to carry out their missions in their areas of responsibility. » « Let no one give importance to fake news spread here and there, » he wrote.

At least two local journalists confirmed to SOS Médias Burundi on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning that they had seen « several soldiers in army or civilian uniform with boots walking in the streets of Cibitoke. »

« They are visibly very tired and their boots are covered in mud, » our colleagues noted. Cibitoke remains one of the main entry points for Congolese refugees fleeing the war in the east of the vast Central African country.

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Congolese security service agents at the border between Rwanda and the DRC between the city of Goma and Gisenyi in the Rubavu district, January 19, 2024