However, some former FDLR members who have recently broken away from the group have said that many of its fighters are integrated into the FARDC, both on the battlefield and in Kinshasa.
In an interview with France 24’s Marc Perelman in New York, at the United Nations headquarters, Ndayishimiye said he had yet to see tangible changes since Rwanda and the DRC signed peace agreements in Washington last year.
Ndayishimiye said that before asking the warring parties to cease hostilities, Rwanda’s forces should first withdraw, arguing that they had not yet done so and that this could further escalate the conflict.
He also said that because AFC/M23 fighters are Congolese, they should first be taken to a designated facility where their security would be guaranteed, before reaching an agreement with the Congolese government.
Burundi’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Édouard Bizimana, recently wrote on X that the FDLR was an excuse created by Rwanda to conceal what he described as the real reasons behind the war in eastern DRC.
Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, responded that it was unfortunate that a country leading the African Union was suggesting that the FDLR genocidal group does not exist.
Nduhungirehe has also pointed to African Union resolutions calling for the FDLR’s disarmament and repatriation.
Asked by the journalist to comment on Bizimana’s statement and Nduhungirehe’s response, Ndayishimiye said: “I think the issue of FDLR is becoming increasingly clear.”
Ndayishimiye said the Congolese government had committed itself to dismantling the FDLR and had begun by identifying the locations of its fighters.
“The Government of Congo had committed in the agreement that the FDLR must be dismantled, and it first started by finding out where the FDLR was located,” he said.
According to Ndayishimiye, the Congolese government has identified the locations of FDLR fighters, with some allegedly in areas controlled by the government and others in areas controlled by AFC/M23.
He added that Kinshasa had presented its plan to dismantle the FDLR to various countries, including those in the region, which he said demonstrated the Congolese government’s willingness to eliminate the group.
The plan Ndayishimiye referred to is an agreement between the FDLR and the Congolese government aimed at the “reintegration” of the group’s fighters into civilian life. Rwanda rejected the arrangement, arguing that it could divert attention from and delay implementation of the Washington agreements.
Rwanda maintains that the FDLR remains a security threat and that it operates alongside Congolese forces and Wazalendo fighters during the fighting. Kigali has also accused Kinshasa of continuing to provide the group with support, including weapons, money and supplies.
Ndayishimiye said Rwanda and AFC/M23 should first have dismantled the FDLR in areas he said they control, but that this had not happened. He said this made him believe that there could be undisclosed interests behind the conflict.
“If I see that Rwanda is doing nothing about the FDLR in areas it controls, because it is the one that should have dismantled it first, I think there is another hidden agenda,” he said.
The Burundian president did not address the fact that the Congolese government itself had not launched operations against FDLR fighters as provided for under the agreement signed on June 27, 2025, focusing instead on the reintegration arrangement rejected by Rwanda.
Ndayishimiye’s comments come as Rwanda continues to call for the FDLR issue to be addressed as one of the initial steps towards restoring peace in eastern DRC and the wider Great Lakes region.
Rwanda argues that lasting peace in the region cannot be achieved while the group, which it says has a history of destabilising the region, continues to operate in eastern DRC.
Burundi, which has deployed forces alongside the Congolese army in fighting against AFC/M23 in parts of North and South Kivu, has itself been accused of cooperating with the FDLR.
Seeking to distance Burundi from the group, Ndayishimiye said there were no FDLR fighters in areas where Burundian troops operate because, he said, they would not find them there.
“Everyone knows that whenever Burundi has captured an FDLR fighter, they have been returned to Rwanda,” he said.
However, there is no publicly known instance during Ndayishimiye’s presidency in which Burundi captured FDLR fighters and handed them over to Rwanda, although the Burundian president said he had evidence to support his claim.
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