βI called the President of Burundi, Ndayishimiye, and asked him: The EAC forces in the DRC were expelled, Burundi remained, and now SADC forces are deploying β has Burundi joined SADC? He said no.
I then asked whether Burundi stayed in Congo because of its friendship with Kinshasa and a desire to support whatever Congo was doing. He replied that Congo had requested their presence because they are friends. I asked again: But more and more of your troops are moving north. Yet he had told me earlier that Burundiβs security problems originating from Congo were in the south β in Uvira and Minembwe β and that this was why they entered Congo. So I asked: If Minembwe and Uvira are in the south, what are you doing in the north, in Goma and Rutshuru?
He responded, βWho told you we have troops there?β I told him I had been informed by people who showed me evidence, but that I wanted to hear directly from him before taking it as fact. He said, βThey lied to you; we have no troops in the north.β I replied that since he, as head of state, was telling me this, I would accept it.
Not long after, many of their soldiers were captured in combat. This led to meetings between our two countries. Burundi tried to deny it, and we asked: Are you denying your own soldiers, captured exactly where you said you had none? It became an endless back-and-forth.
Even today, all of this was happening before we signed the agreement and continued afterward. What happened in Uvira revealed thousands of Burundian soldiers operating in Uvira, Minembwe, Kalemie, Kindu, and others who had moved to Walikale and Kisangani β more than twenty thousand in total.
You have to ask: how did such a large Burundian force enter Congo? Clearly there is a serious problem. They spend their days shelling people in Minembwe with artillery and drones. And those in the international community who talk endlessly β where are they? People have cried out for help, and no one has intervened.
Then recently, after the fighting in Uvira, an international outcry suddenly emerged claiming, βIt is Rwanda.β So now Rwanda is expected to bear responsibility for all the problems unfolding inside Congo.β President Kagame