South Kivu : more than 3,000 Burundian refugees have reportedly joined the Wazalendo militias

Bukavu, June 4, 2025 – In the Burundian refugee camps of Mulongwe and Lusenda, located in Fizi territory, South Kivu (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), more than 3,000 people have reportedly joined the Wazalendo militias, local armed groups supported by the Congolese authorities in the conflict shaking the region. This information is reported by several local and humanitarian sources contacted by SOS Médias Burundi.

Faced with an acute humanitarian crisis and the cessation of aid for several months, many Burundian refugees are reportedly turning to these armed groups. Some are even participating in the fighting against the Twirwaneho and M23 rebels.

“The UNHCR hasn’t given us food aid for six months. When I work at a Wazalendo checkpoint in Baraka, I can earn up to 10,000 Congolese francs a day. It’s better than staying in the camp and starving,” says a Burundian refugee who joined a Wazalendo faction.

Uniformed militiamen in the camps

The situation is worrying civilians who remain in the camps. Several refugees say that some of their companions are returning armed and in military uniform, despite their official refugee status, raising fears of reprisals from other armed groups or the FARDC (Armed Forces of the DRC).

“They are now arriving in uniform and armed, even though they are still registered as refugees,” says a Burundian refugee married to a militiaman.

In this context of growing insecurity, voices are being raised calling for the urgent relocation of the most vulnerable populations.

UNHCR absent, authorities overwhelmed

The UNHCR’s withdrawal since January from the Lusenda and Mulongwe camps has been widely criticized. According to our sources, several humanitarian workers have left the area fearing for their safety. Some have reportedly taken refuge in Burundi, Rwanda, or Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

NGOs still present on the ground consider the figure of 3,000 refugees enrolled in armed groups plausible. They denounce a climate of fear and total humanitarian abandonment.

Ignored warnings

The National Commission for Refugees (CNR), Baraka branch, has reiterated that involvement in armed groups is strictly prohibited for refugees. But on the ground, this prohibition appears to have gone unheeded.

According to the latest statistics from the UNHCR and the CNR, the DRC hosts nearly 47,000 Burundian refugees, mostly living in the Lusenda and Mulongwe camps, but also in transit centers like Sange and Kavimvira, or in urban centers in eastern Congo.