One article, nine hours of interrogation: Independent press faces the SNR

SOS Médias Burundi

Bujumbura, December 23, 2025 — Two senior officials from the Iwacu media group, one of the few independent media outlets still operating in the small east African nation, were interrogated for nearly nine hours on Monday by the National Intelligence Service (SNR) in Bujumbura. The reason : an article deemed sensitive concerning Burundi’s military involvement in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Washington agreement of December 4, in an explosive regional context.

Abbas Mbazumutima, editorial director, and Léandre Sikuyavuga, director of the Iwacu media group, were questioned on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the National Intelligence Service (SNR) headquarters, without prior written summons, sources close to the case told SOS Médias Burundi.

According to these sources, the two officials were contacted by what is described as a “gentle” or “friendly” phone call. This is a common practice among Burundian security services, but it raises questions about the legal framework for such interrogations.

A troubling article

The interrogation concerned an article published by Iwacu focusing on the security situation in eastern DRC, and more specifically on the Washington Agreement, signed on December 4th under the US mediation between Rwanda and the DRC. Burundi was represented by its president, Évariste Ndayishimiye, as an observer.

According to a source who had access to the list of questions asked, the Burundian authorities were irritated by the passages relating to Burundian soldiers deployed in the DRC and the local Wazalendo militias supported by Kinshasa.

👉 To read the full article in question :
https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/interview-les-accords-de-washington-peuvent-ils-stopper-la-guerre/

An explosive regional context

The article was published against a backdrop of escalating fighting in eastern DRC. Since early December, the M23 rebel group has seized control of several towns in South Kivu, including Uvira, located a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital and home to UN agencies and the central government.

Following several defeats and losses suffered by Burundian troops, military officials decided on a phased withdrawal, which has never been officially announced. SOS Médias Burundi documented withdrawal operations up until last week, taking place via Lake Tanganyika, through the lakeside areas of Baraka and Mboko.

A regional war with major strategic stakes

Reactivated in 2021, the M23, composed primarily of Congolese Tutsis, controls several strategic locations in North and South Kivu, including their capitals, Goma and Bukavu, as well as very important mining areas, including the strategic Rubaya mining zone, located in the Masisi territory of North Kivu. Rubaya is one of the world’s largest coltan deposits and supplies a significant portion of the world’s tantalum, a mineral essential to the electronics industry and new technologies.

The movement is now integrated into the Congo River Alliance (CRA), led by Corneille Nangaa, former president of the DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), which advocates for a federal state in the DRC. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the M23, while Rwanda denounces the alleged support of the DRC and Burundi for the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu armed group whose members are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Burundi, for its part, has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers to the DRC since March 2023 to support the FARDC, the Congolese loyalist army, and the local Wazalendo militias, contributing to the complexity of an already explosive regional conflict.

An increasingly contested intervention

Numerous local and international analyses denounce Burundi’s involvement in a war that does not directly concern the country. President Évariste Ndayishimiye, however, has repeatedly defended the Burundian military presence in the DRC, presenting it as a duty of regional solidarity.

An independent press under pressure

The Iwacu media group remains one of the few independent media outlets still operating in the small east African nation since the 2015 crisis, marked by the destruction of media outlets, the forced exile of journalists, and the ongoing repression of critical journalism.

One of its reporters, Jean Bigirimana, has been missing since July 22, 2016. Despite contradictory official statements, his fate has never been credibly clarified. His case has become symbolic of enforced disappearances and impunity in Burundi, and is regularly cited by human rights and press freedom organizations.

In 2025, Burundi has has fallen 17 places in the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranking 125th out of 180 countries.

In a country where reporting on the regional war can cost hours of interrogation, or even longer, the survival of the independent press remains more threatened than ever.