{"id":54287,"date":"2025-05-26T09:35:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T09:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/m23-warns-burundi-over-continued-attacks-and-ties-with-fdlr-video\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T14:51:34","slug":"m23-warns-burundi-over-continued-attacks-and-ties-with-fdlr-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/m23-warns-burundi-over-continued-attacks-and-ties-with-fdlr-video\/","title":{"rendered":"M23 warns Burundi over continued attacks and ties with FDLR (Video)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking during a press conference in Goma on Sunday, May 25, 2025, M23 President Bertrand Bisimwa criticised Burundi\u2019s military involvement in eastern DRC, saying that Burundian troops are operating alongside Congolese forces and enabling FDLR fighters near the border region to kill innocent civilians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBurundi is fighting us alongside the Congolese government. Along the border with the DRC, they\u2019re hosting and enabling another enemy\u2014the FDLR,\u201d Bisimwa said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many FDLR fighters in that area, where they\u2019re organising to attack us. That\u2019s where the threats are coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"656\" height=\"369\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3kb8Yk5-nvk\" title=\"\u201cWithdraw your troops\u201d: M23\u2019s Bisimwa warns Burundi over role in Congo war and FDLR ties\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to Bisimwa, the Congolese government is also conducting drone strikes in the region, guided by its intelligence operatives, which have resulted in further civilian casualties.<\/p>\n<p>While expressing no hostility toward the Burundian population, Bisimwa condemned what he described as the Burundian leadership\u2019s role in the conflict. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no problem with the Burundian people\u2014they\u2019re our brothers,\u201d he said. \u201cBut their leaders are using the army to kill Congolese civilians, and we can\u2019t support such a government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The M23 leader called for the withdrawal of Burundian troops, citing the recent move by SADC forces to exit Congo as an example to follow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll we\u2019re asking is for them to leave our land\u2026 Just like the SADC forces who withdrew, they should do the same and return to Burundi,\u201d he said, warning that the rebels have nothing to lose in their &#8220;fight for survival.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bisimwa also disclosed to members of the press that he had met with Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye before the country joined the conflict. According to him, the Burundian leader acknowledged similarities between M23\u2019s struggle and the historic rebellion that brought his own CNDD-FDD party to power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI explained our situation, and he told me our struggle reminded him of what CNDD-FDD went through. He said it was the same injustice that led them to take up arms,\u201d Bisimwa recalled. \u201cSo why is he now doing to us what he once fought against?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bisimwa, while defending what he described as the rebels\u2019 and marginalised communities\u2019 struggle, revisited the political histories of Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, noting that their current governments came to power through armed struggles against marginalisation.<\/p>\n<p>He cited remarks by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who once warned that those excluded today could rise to power tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;President Museveni once said in Kinshasa that he and President Kagame came to power by fighting marginalisation. He warned that those who are excluded today could be the ones to topple you tomorrow,&#8221; he stated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s the message we\u2019re sending to Kinshasa. They know it, and I\u2019m simply reminding them. To Burundi, I want to say this: when people are oppressed, they have nothing to lose. They fight with everything they have to survive and stay safe. And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>M23, which positions itself as fighting against poor governance and the marginalisation of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in eastern DRC, currently controls large swathes of territory in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts led by Qatar and the African Union to resolve the conflict diplomatically are ongoing, but the rebel group accuses the Kinshasa administration of lacking commitment to that path.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-87903 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/m23-leader.jpg\" alt=\"Addressing a press conference in Goma on Sunday, May 25, 2025, M23 President Bertrand Bisimwa criticised Burundi\u2019s military involvement in eastern DRC, saying that Burundian troops are operating alongside Congolese forces and enabling FDLR fighters near the border region to kill innocent civilians.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The M23 rebel group has issued a stern warning to Burundi, condemning it for siding with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government in military operations and collaborating with the FDLR, a militia group formed by the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000087904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000087904,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23-leader.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000087904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54287"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54287"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}