Congo and Burundi Sign Joint Military Pact to Counter M23 Rebels in the East
Uvira, 28 May 2026
The DRC and Burundi have formalised their military alliance against M23 rebels, signing a joint communiqué on 26 May 2026. With tens of thousands of Burundian troops already deployed, safe refugee return remains unlikely.
A Diplomatic Mission That Began on the Front Line
The sequence of events leading to this week’s military agreement began not in a conference room, but in the field. On Monday, 25 May 2026, Congolese Deputy Prime Minister for National Defence and Veterans Affairs, Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita, arrived in Bujumbura after completing a security assessment visit to Uvira, a strategic town in South Kivu province in eastern DRC [1][3]. The choice to begin the mission at Uvira was deliberate — the town sits at the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika and has been a focal point of M23-linked instability, as well as a key transit corridor for Burundian military reinforcements entering the DRC [1]. That Muadiamvita travelled directly from the conflict zone to the Burundian capital underscored the operational urgency behind the diplomatic visit [3].
The Bujumbura Meetings: What Was Agreed and When
On Tuesday, 26 May 2026, Muadiamvita was received by his Burundian counterpart, Defence Minister Marie Chantal Nijimbere, in a ceremony that included full military honours — a deliberate signal of the seriousness with which both governments regard the partnership [1][3]. The two ministers held closed-door, one-on-one talks focused on border security, broader sub-regional security challenges, and the consolidation of bilateral defence cooperation mechanisms between the two neighbouring states [3]. Following a 48-hour technical review conducted by bilateral experts, which concluded on 26 May 2026, both ministers approved the joint expert report and signed a final communiqué committing both nations to accelerating border security measures and joint military operations [1]. The signing of this communiqué marks a concrete operational step forward, not merely a reaffirmation of existing goodwill.
Rooted in a 2023 Presidential Agreement
The military cooperation formalised this week did not emerge in a vacuum. It builds directly upon a strategic defence agreement signed on 6 March 2023 by DRC President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo and Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye, which was designed to secure their shared land and lake borders against armed groups operating in eastern DRC [1]. What has changed since 2023 is the scale of Burundian military involvement: from August 2022 through to December 2025, tens of thousands of Burundian soldiers were deployed to eastern DRC to support the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) against the M23 rebel group, which had resumed hostilities in late 2021 and operates in alliance with Corneille Nangaa’s Congo River Alliance (AFC) [1]. Then, in January 2026, following the withdrawal of M23 rebels from Uvira and the Rusizi Plain, the Burundian army initiated a fresh wave of large-scale troop deployments into South Kivu, this time via Lake Tanganyika [1]. The May 2026 communiqué is therefore the latest chapter in a military relationship that has been deepening for nearly three years.
Rwanda, the FDLR, and a Region of Competing Accusations
The conflict in eastern DRC cannot be understood without acknowledging the broader web of regional tensions that surrounds it. A 2025 United Nations expert report confirmed the presence of several thousand Rwandan soldiers fighting alongside M23 rebels in eastern DRC [1]. Kinshasa has consistently accused Kigali of backing the M23, while Rwanda in turn accuses the DRC and Burundi of supporting the FDLR — the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu armed group with roots in the 1994 genocide [1]. These mutual accusations have made diplomatic resolution extraordinarily difficult, with each government framing its military actions as defensive rather than aggressive. During his time in Bujumbura on 26 May 2026, Muadiamvita also met with Dr. Mubita Luwabelwa, the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and discussions included preparations for upcoming regional meetings, though no dates for those meetings have yet been specified [1]. Muadiamvita additionally visited wounded Congolese soldiers hospitalised in Bujumbura and officially acknowledged Burundi’s military deployment in eastern DRC, paying tribute to Burundian soldiers who have fallen in the conflict [1].
What This Means for Congolese Refugees
For the tens of thousands of Congolese refugees currently sheltering in camps such as Kakuma and Kalobeyei in Kenya’s Turkana County, the events of this week carry an unambiguous message: home is not yet safe [GPT]. The M23 rebellion has been one of the primary drivers of mass displacement from North and South Kivu provinces, pushing hundreds of thousands of civilians from their communities [1]. The signing of a new joint military communiqué, far from signalling an end to hostilities, confirms that active armed operations are ongoing and that both the DRC and Burundi consider the security situation serious enough to warrant accelerated military coordination [1][3]. Under the conditions established by international refugee law, voluntary repatriation can only be considered when return is safe, dignified, and sustainable [GPT]. With Burundian troops continuing large-scale deployments into South Kivu as recently as January 2026, and with no ceasefire or peace agreement in sight [alert! ‘No ceasefire or formal peace process timeline has been confirmed in the provided sources’], the prospect of safe return for Congolese refugees remains remote. Host communities in Turkana, who share resources, infrastructure, and daily life with refugee populations, will therefore continue to bear the indirect weight of a conflict unfolding more than 1,500 kilometres away [GPT].