Burundi : a humanitarian crisis worsens in two Congolese refugee camps in Cibitoke and Bukinanyana

SOS Médias Burundi

Cibitoke, December 22, 2025 — A worrying humanitarian crisis is affecting the Congolese refugee camps temporarily set up in Cishemere, in the Cibitoke area and commune, and in Kansega, in the Ndava area, Bukinanyana commune, in northwestern Burundi. These refugees, who arrived more than two weeks ago, fled armed clashes between the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC), the Wazalendo and FDLR militias, supported by the Burundian army, and the M23 rebel movement.

At least twelve people have died in one week, victims of illnesses linked to the precarious living conditions. In the temporary camp of Cishemere, three deaths were recorded, including two children and one adult. In Kansega, nine other people lost their lives, including six children and four adults.

More than 40,000 refugees are currently gathered in these two sites, without any real reception facilities. Several of them say they refuse to be transferred to other camps located in the provinces of Ruyigi, Rutana, Muyinga, or Cankuzo. “We don’t want to remain confined in camps like prisoners,” some displaced people interviewed on site said angrily.

For its part, an official from the National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA) affirms that the Burundian government, in collaboration with UNHCR and other humanitarian partners, is continuing relocation operations. According to him, several tens of thousands of Congolese refugees have already been transferred to camps set up over the past two weeks, and the operation is ongoing. He specifies, however, that refugees refusing resettlement could be allowed to return voluntarily to the DRC, while emphasizing that insecurity remains a serious concern on the other side of the border.

The small east African nation has already taken in more than 70,000 Congolese refugees since the beginning of December, fleeing violence in the South Kivu province in eastern DRC.

Regional context and the Washington agreement

Since the beginning of the year, the M23 rebels, militarily supported by Kigali according to Kinshasa, have controlled several strategic territories in North and South Kivu. Reactivated in 2021, the M23, composed mainly of Congolese Tutsis, notably seized the city of Uvira, located a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of providing military support to the rebel movement, while Rwanda denounces the support given by the DRC and Burundi to the FDLR, an armed Rwandan Hutu militia accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. These conflicting accusations persist despite the Washington agreement signed on December 4 under US mediation. Kigali continues to deny any direct support for the M23, dismissing the reports of UN experts—who estimate the number of Rwandan soldiers fighting alongside the rebels at between 5,000 and 7,000—as “fabrications.”

Furthermore, the M23 is now part of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), led by Corneille Nangaa, former president of the Congolese Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), which advocates for a federal state in the DRC.

For its part, Burundi has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers to South Kivu to support the FARDC and the Wazalendo militias allied with the Congolese government. Burundian authorities have not yet decided to reopen the land borders with the DRC, despite the recent announcement of the M23’s withdrawal from Uvira, a city located a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital.