Burundi’s president Evariste Ndayishimiye landed this Tuesday in Kinshasa for consultations on Peace and Security in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the Burundi presidency, president Ndayishimiye traveled to Kinshasa as part of the consultations in his capacity, “as President of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region,” part of the statement reads from the Burundi presidency.
The Regional Oversight Mechanism meets once a year at Head of State and Government level to review progress in the implementation of national and regional commitments under the Framework signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2013. The Framework agreement was signed by 13 countries and four Guarantor institutions of the UN, AU, ICGLR and SADC, to end the recurring cycles of conflicts in eastern DRC. The 13 signatory countries include 7 EAC partner states of Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye’s visit comes as tension and fighting has for recently intensified between DRC army (FARDC) and the M23 in the eastern part of the country.
With the latest being Sake city that has seen civilians caught in the crossfire.
Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels that have continued to destabilize the eastern part of the country, allegations that Kigali repeatedly denied.
Rwanda’s relations with two of its neighbors (DRC and Burundi) deteriorated significantly with recently Burundi closing all its land borders with Rwanda in January this year.
Gitega accuses Kigali of supporting the a rebel group (Red Tabara) that carried out an attack in Gatumba, a town bordering DRC that claimed 20 civilian lives.
Red Tabara a rebel group believed to have been formed by those accused of plotting the 2015 failed coup d’etat to oust the then President Pierre Nkurunziza, Gitega said dialogue to extradite the accused who are said to be sheltered in Rwanda was futile.
Rwanda’s government has repeatedly denied the accusations of supporting any rebel group to destabilize Burundi.