It has not been given the media attention it deserves but, clearly, Burundi’s stance in the escalating crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a big concern, not only to the region, but also to Gitega.

While the East African Community joined hands to try find a sustainable solution for the current hostilities in eastern DRC, the Burundian government instead sent troops in the area to support the Congolese army in violating the peace processes initiated to help restore peace in the region where more than 200 armed groups continue to wreck havoc.

The Burundian army joined the Congolese army’s coalition made up of Wazalendo and numerous other armed militias, Eastern European mercenaries, and the Rwandan genocidal group, FDLR, which was founded by the remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Burundi betrayed the EAC efforts to restore peace in DRC through political solution, by collaborating with a genocidal militia whose sole mission is to exterminate the Tutsi in DRC, Rwanda,  and beyond.

The Congolese army, and its coalition allies, is committing human rights abuses and persecuting Congolese Tutsi communities. Burundi accepted to support Kinshasa in killing its own citizens, displacing many others.

According to sources in Kinshasa, the Congolese government pays $5,000, monthly, for each Burundian soldier who is fighting alongside the Congolese national army against M23 rebels.

The M23 rebel group is fighting against an existential threat imposed by the Congolese government. The rebels fight to protect their community which has been, for decades, persecuted and denied rights to citizenship.

Since November 29, the Burundian army has been repatriating its own killed and injured soldiers - casualties in the battle against M23 rebels in North Kivu Province.

Gitega has admitted that about 60 soldiers were killed, and others captured, in eastern DRC ever since heavy fighting resumed in October. But sources say the number of Burundian casualties is way much bigger.

Burundian families and some commanders opposed the deployment of Force de Défense Nationale du Burundi (FDNB) to eastern DRC to fight M23. Consequently, some commanders were detained. Gitega then promised to increase the monthly salary of soldiers deployed to DRC in a bid to ease the tension.

On November 13, President Évariste Ndayishimiye convened a meeting at Ntare Rushatsi House with senior military and political officials. They decided to maintain and reinforce the troops deployed to North Kivu under a bilateral agreement that is suspiciously separate from the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) to support the Congolese army fighting M23 rebels.

In early November, Burundian troops fighting alongside the Congolese army coalition were captured and exposed by M23 rebels. The rebels paraded captured Burundian soldiers to the media yet Gitega had been denying that it was fighting alongside the Congolese national army.

A week before the meeting of top Burundian officials, Burundi had reinforced its troops in eastern DRC with about 1,000 soldiers.

Gitega had initially deployed over 2,000 soldiers on bilateral arrangements with Kinshasa.

Burundian troops are collaborating with Wazalendo militia and the FDLR, a Rwandan genocidal militia, in attacking Congolese Tutsi communities. The FDLR was formed in eastern DRC, more than a decade ago, by the remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The decades-long alliance between the DRC army and FDLR has always fueled tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali. Burundi’s support to the Congolese army which is collaborating with FDLR is not going to go unnoticed in Kigali.

While the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) is withdrawing from DRC, the Burundian contingent will stay and co-operate with the Congolese army under a bilateral arrangement.

Regional security analysts fear that the involvement of Burundi in eastern DRC, is a recipe for disaster.

Burundian forces joining the coalition of FARDC and FDLR-Wazalendo against M23 is a dangerous development in eastern DRC.