After his February 22 working visit in Rwanda, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, who doubles as East African Community (EAC) Summit Chairperson, on Friday, February 23, met with his Burundian counterpart Evariste Ndayishimiye for discussions on the crisis in eastern DR Congo.

The meeting in Bujumbura, which was also attended by EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki, focused on ways to return to negotiations and prevent the conflict between M23 rebels and the Congolese army from spreading further into the Great Lakes Region, the EAC said in a statement.

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Kiir and Ndayishimiye "reaffirmed their commitment to the EAC-led Nairobi process and underscored the need for expeditious complementary implementation with the Luanda process to avert further deterioration of the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which risks spillover into neighbouring partner states," read the EAC statement.

The concern that the conflict could plunge the region into a crisis arose after an escalation in hostilities between the Congolese government-led coalition and the M23 rebels in North Kivu Province. Burundian soldiers are part of the coalition which also includes troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and FDLR militiamen. The FDLR is a UN-sanctioned terrorist militia group formed in mid-2000 in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second-largest city located in the country's southeast along the border with Zambia, by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The South Sudan government announced that Kiir, who met with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame on Thursday, would also meet DR Congo&039;s Felix Tshisekedi "to discuss ways of ending growing tensions" in the region.

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The conflict in eastern DR Congo has affected the country’s diplomatic relations with Rwanda since 2022 as Kinshasa alleges that Kigali supports the M23 rebels, allegations Kigali has dismissed.

In October 2022, the Congolese government ordered Rwandan Ambassador Vincent Karega to leave the country within 48 hours after accusing Kigali of supporting the rebels, who had then captured two towns in the country’s unstable east.

At the time, the government of Rwanda which described as "regrettable" DR Congo’s decision to expel the envoy, also noted that Kinshasa continued to scapegoat Rwanda to "cover up and distract from their own governance and security failures." Rwandan security forces at the common border remained on alert, as Kigali continued "to monitor the Congolese escalation.”

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Of particular concern, Kigali noted, was the continued collusion between the Congolese armed forces with the FDLR, and their attempts to target the border area with heavy weaponry, "as well as the bellicose anti-Rwanda rhetoric being broadcast” by DR Congo officials.

The tensions never ended or declined and, a year later, during the campaign for his re-election, in late 2023, Tshisekedi said he would declare war on Rwanda – a threat that the Rwandan government condemned. Among others, Kigali insists on the need to address the issue of the incorporation of the genocidal militia into the Congolese army. Rwanda’s envoy to the UN, Amb Ernest Rwamucyo, told the Security Council on February 20 that DR Congo’s support to the FDLR was a "state policy” which posed a "very serious threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity.”

Rwamucyo said "any force that directly or indirectly collaborates and supports the genocidal FDLR is considered belligerent to Rwanda.”

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The latest escalation in the conflict between the M23 rebels and the Congolese armed forces follows Kinshasa's expulsion of an EAC regional force that had been deployed to observe a ceasefire and the rebels withdrawal.

The EAC regional force began withdrawing from its positions in eastern DR Congo in early December 2023, over a year after it was deployed there to support regional peace efforts, and especially to observe a ceasefire between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels. The Congolese government refused to renew the regional force’s mandate, a development that was seen as a frustration to regional peace efforts.

In mid-December 2023, Tshisekedi’s government welcomed a military force from the SADC bloc, raising concerns that the conflict might plunge the region into a wider crisis.

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Eastern DR Congo has been volatile for nearly 30 years.

The provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri are home to more than 130 armed groups that are accused of atrocities and human rights violations. Multiple regional and international interventions have failed to end decades of insecurity.

Dialogue between Burundi and Rwanda

The meeting in Bujumbura also took place at a time of diplomatic tensions between Burundi and Rwanda, following Gitega's unilateral January 11 border closure amid allegations that Kigali supported Burundian rebels. Earlier, on December 29, 2023, while addressing the nation and the media, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye accused Rwanda of harbouring and training members of RED Tabara, a group responsible for the December 22, 2023 attack that left 20 people dead in Gatumba, western Burundi.

The Rwandan government said it has no links with any Burundian armed group.

Kiir and Ndayishimiye "noted the need for the two sister states of Burundi and Rwanda to ensure implementation of all previously agreed upon commitments in good faith arising out of the bilateral dialogue between the two partner states," the EAC statement said.

"This will energize the implementation of EAC integration imperatives that include the free movement of persons, goods and services."

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While in Kinshasa, in January, Ndayishimiye said Rwandans needed to "start putting pressure on [their leaders] because I believe that young Rwandans cannot accept being prisoners in the region.”

The Rwandan government said Ndayisimiye's comments in Kinshasa were "inflammatory and un-African,” adding that Kigali would continue to "work with partners in the region and beyond to foster stability and continued development.”

Rwanda called on the Burundian leaders to address their concerns through diplomatic channels.