“Arm the FARDC!” : Uvira paralyzed by a day of anger against deteriorating security

SOS Médias Burundi

Uvira, August 5, 2026 – The city of Uvira, in South Kivu province, largely observed a “ghost town” day on Wednesday, called for by the Provincial Coordination of the New Congolese Civil Society (NSCC). Organizers aimed to draw the attention of Congolese authorities to the deteriorating security situation in the mid- and high-altitude regions of the Uvira and Fizi territories, while also demanding modern military equipment for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and their Wazalendo allies.

In Uvira, a strategic city located just a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital, and home to several United Nations agencies as well as a large part of the Burundian central administration, this mobilization takes on particular significance. The city, briefly occupied by rebels between December 2025 and January 2026 before their withdrawal under international pressure, particularly from the United States, remains a central security concern in the Great Lakes region.

From Kavimvira to Kalundu, traffic was virtually nonexistent. Motorcycles and vehicles remained at a standstill, while markets, shops, and warehouses remained closed, illustrating a strong mobilization of the population.

According to the NSCC provincial coordinator in South Kivu, Mafikiri Mashimango, this action pursued three main objectives : demanding that the central government equip the FARDC and the Wazalendo with modern equipment as quickly as possible to address the deteriorating security situation in the territories of Uvira and Fizi; to denounce what the NSCC calls the silence and inaction of the international community in the face of the ongoing aggression attributed to Rwanda; and to warn any FARDC soldier or any fighter from the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP/Wazalendo) who might collaborate with the enemy.

Mixed reactions

This initiative, however, has elicited mixed reactions. Some analysts believe that the difficulties encountered on the ground are not solely due to a lack of military equipment, but also to a lack of fighting spirit among certain units. They point out that military equipment was abandoned during previous clashes, notably at Point Zero, a strategic military location and position in the Fizi territory, in the heart of the Itombwe massif, in the South Kivu Highlands, in June 2026, as well as in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, when the city fell to the rebels in January 2025.

In Uvira, the population continues to express its concern about the rising insecurity. Several residents are denouncing the proliferation of weapons among civilians and the resurgence of violence. According to testimonies gathered on site, two people were killed the day before this day of mobilization. Over the past month, around ten people have reportedly lost their lives and more than twenty others have been injured in various security incidents.

Some observers also attribute political motivations to this mobilization, believing it could help increase the visibility of certain civil society actors in the lead-up to the upcoming elections. The organizers reject this interpretation and maintain that their initiative responds solely to the population’s security concerns.

An increasingly regional conflict

This day of mobilization comes as fighting has continued for several months in the South Kivu Highlands. The FARDC, supported by the Wazalendo militias, the Burundi National Defence Force (FDNB) and other allied groups from Kinshasa, have lost several strongholds to the rebels of the armed group Twirwaneho, composed mainly of fighters from the Banyamulenge community.

Twirwaneho is allied with the M23, which is affiliated with the Congo River Alliance (AFC), led by Corneille Nangaa, former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). In recent years, this political-military coalition has established a parallel administration in several areas of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and continues to advocate for a federal state in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Congolese and Burundian authorities accuse Rwanda of supporting the rebels, which Kigali denies. Rwandan authorities, for their part, accuse Kinshasa and Gitega of supporting the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose members are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis.

United Nations experts estimated last year that 5,000 to 7,000 Rwandan soldiers were fighting alongside the rebels, a conclusion rejected by Kigali. According to an internal report from the Congolese Ministry of the Interior and Security, consulted by SOS Médias Burundi, the Burundian army deployed more than 29,000 soldiers in eastern DRC between August 2022 and December 2025.

The crisis in eastern DRC is thus continuing to take on an increasingly regional dimension. On Burundi’s doorstep, the situation in Uvira is now being closely monitored by authorities in several neighboring countries, as a further deterioration of security in this strategic city could have direct repercussions throughout the Great Lakes region of Africa.