The Burundian military continues its mission to support the Congolese army(FARDC) in fighting the M23 in eastern DRC. The Wazalendo coalition and the FDLR are also part of the alliance.
After the fighting in the locality of Bwiza, elements of the Burundian army recently joined the FARDC, FDLR and Wazalendo in North Kivu where they confront the M23 in the locality of Kanyarucinya.
According to information provided by the Rwanda Tribune source in this region, since the morning of October 31, 2023, the Burundian soldiers have disguised themselves in FARDC uniforms and are carrying out attacks against the M23, in collaboration with the FARDC, FDLR and Wazalendo.
These Burundian soldiers form two battalions, dispatched last Saturday to North Kivu from Burundi.
They came to reinforce the two other battalions of the same Burundian army which have been fighting the M23 in North Kivu for some time as they suffered a bitter failure against the M23, following the loss of several elements including officers, in the clashes with this movement in the locality of Bwiza.At this time the M23 conquered the strategic point of Kitshanga and other localities such as Bambo and Kishishe.
Paradoxically, the said Burundian reinforcement has not brought success on the battlefield until now, since the M23 continues to progress by taking over many places up to the territory of Rutshuru currently occupied by this movement.
Today, the FARDC is therefore assisted by 4 battalions of the FDNB, deployed within the so-called “Gitega-Kinshasa” bilateral cooperation framework, agreed in an intimate meeting between President Evariste Ndayishimiye and President Félix Tshisekedi.
This is to say that these units of the Burundian army which operate in cahoots with the army of the DRC and its allies (FDLR, Wazalendo) ,differ from those deployed on EAC missions for the maintenance of peace in the eastern DRC. .
Claude HATEGEKIMANA
Rwandatribune.com