Buhumuza : the Congolese exodus intensifies, camps overflow under the pressure of the conflict in South Kivu

SOS Médias Burundi

Ruyigi, December 23, 2025 – Fleeing the escalating armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), tens of thousands of Congolese are flocking to Burundi. In Buhumuza province, the humanitarian situation is becoming alarming, against a backdrop of regional security tensions, extreme precariousness in the camps, and fears related to intercommunity coexistence.

Humanitarian visit to Busuma camp

On Monday, December 22, 2025, a joint delegation from the Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi Foundation, led by First Lady Nyakeru Tshisekedi and the Governor of South Kivu Province, Jean-Jacques Purusi, visited the Busuma refugee camp in the Ruyigi commune of Buhumuza Province, eastern Burundi.

Nadège Kubiha, representing the Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi Foundation delegation, reaffirmed the Congolese authorities’ commitment to supporting their compatriots forced into exile and to creating the conditions for a voluntary, safe, and dignified return as soon as the security situation allows.

A critical humanitarian situation

On the ground, refugees expressed their distress at the extremely precarious living conditions : food shortages, a lack of adequate shelter, insufficient drinking water, and limited access to healthcare.

The health situation is particularly worrying. According to the National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA) and the local administration, the camp has recorded 62 active cases of cholera, four deaths related to the epidemic, as well as four other deaths of children under five, attributed to inclement weather, diarrheal diseases, and a lack of blankets.

The Congolese delegation delivered three tons of humanitarian aid consisting of food (rice, sugar, and flour) and non-food items (tarpaulins, buckets, jerrycans, and blankets), distributed primarily to breastfeeding mothers, the elderly, and people living with disabilities.

Coexistence with the host population : a fragile balance

Valéry Nkunzimana, advisor to the governor of Buhumuza in charge of development, attempted to reassure the refugees regarding their coexistence with the local population. He noted that many residents of the region had themselves experienced exile in the United Republic of Tanzania, fostering a certain solidarity based on a shared experience of suffering.

However, administrative authorities are expressing growing concern about the concentration of refugee camps in Bwagiriza, Busuma, and Nyankanda, each separated by barely ten kilometers, a factor considered potentially sensitive from a security standpoint.

Banyamulenge and Tutsis : exclusion under high tension

According to local and administrative sources, the Busuma camp is strictly off-limits to refugees from the Banyamulenge community or the Tutsi ethnic group, at the risk of their lives. Six individuals from this community, who arrived Saturday evening with other Congolese refugees, were immediately taken back to the Nyankanda camp, located nine kilometers north of Busuma.

This situation raises serious concerns about the protection of these refugees and community management in the reception sites, in a regional context already marked by deep-seated identity tensions.

More than 200,000 Congolese refugees hosted in Burundi

Since the beginning of December, the small East African nation has received more than 80,000 Congolese refugees, in addition to the more than 70,000 others who had sought refuge in Burundi earlier this year. Prior to this double influx, other Congolese refugees were already present in Burundi, bringing the total number of Congolese refugees currently hosted by Burundi to over 200,000.

A regional conflict with explosive ramifications

Since the M23 seized Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, at the beginning of the year, Jean-Jacques Purusi has been residing in Bujumbura, Burundi’s economic capital, as have several other Congolese officials from South Kivu. Even those who had taken refuge in Uvira joined the forces in Bujumbura before the city fell to the M23 on the night of December 9-10, 2025.

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 important mining areas, including the strategic Rubaya 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 part of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), led by Corneille Nangaa, former president of the 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, some of whose members are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis.

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 urgent appeal for assistance and peace

With more than 45,000 refugees living in Busuma, the humanitarian crisis remains acute. The refugees are making an urgent appeal to UNHCR, the Burundian government, and the Congolese authorities to strengthen humanitarian assistance, but above all, to work towards a lasting de-escalation of the conflict and a voluntary, safe, and dignified return to their country of origin.