Burundi’s Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, arrived in the country, yesterday, for a three-day visit to explore ways of formalising bilateral military cooperation between the two neighbouring states.

This was disclosed by army spokesperson, Lt Col Jill Rutaremara, during an interview yesterday.
"He will meet and discuss with the CDS (Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga) to identify areas of cooperation,” Rutaremara said.

Burundi is a member of the three-nation Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), a regional grouping also comprising of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).

Members of CEPGL have vowed to work together, especially by maintaining military pressure on FDLR rebels in eastern of DRC and other negative forces or security threats in the region.

Rutaremara noted that even though routine reviews of common security threats and sharing intelligence was on CEPGL’s agenda, Rwanda and Burundi have to take a good look at their bilateral arrangement against common security threats.

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