Burundi : night patrols imposed in Butanyerera amid regional tensions with Rwanda

SOS Médias Burundi

Butanyerera, December 29, 2025 – In the district of Kirundo, bordering Rwanda, in Butanyerera province, northern Burundi, the security situation is causing serious concern among the population. In several villages overlooking Lake Cohoha and the Kanyaru River, mandatory night patrols have been enforced, profoundly affecting the daily lives of residents and raising serious human rights concerns.

According to numerous testimonies gathered by SOS Médias Burundi, these patrols are supervised by local authorities, in collaboration with representatives of the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the CNDD-FDD, the ruling party. The Imbonerakure themselves participate in the patrols, alongside all other men in the area, often without regard to age or physical condition.

Patrols are organized every night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., particularly in the villages of Mugendo, Kiri, Gaturanda, and Kigina, in the Ntega zone.

“Every man under the age of 60 is required to participate, without exception,” confided a resident on condition of anonymity.

Patrols encouraged at the highest levels of government

These security measures are part of an increasingly alarmist official discourse. Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye and several high-ranking officials of the CNDD-FDD have repeatedly encouraged the implementation of night patrols throughout the country. The head of state even went so far as to publicly assert that Rwanda was preparing to attack Burundi, “as it did in Congo,” calling on residents of all provinces to be ready to defend the nation.

These are accusations that President Ndayishimiye reiterated last Friday during his end-of-year public address in Muramvya, in central Burundi.

Climate of fear, extortion, and economic impact

On the ground, residents denounce a climate of fear fueled by repeated messages portraying Rwanda as an imminent enemy.

“We are constantly told that an attack could happen at any moment,” testifies a resident of Mugendo village.

In addition to these night patrols, there are accusations of extortion. Several sources claim that people who are sick, elderly, or physically unable to participate in the patrols must pay money to local officials or certain Imbonerakure leaders to avoid punishment. The amounts demanded vary between 2,000 and 10,000 Burundi francs, according to testimonies.

The economic consequences are also severe. “After a full night of patrols, we’re forced to sleep all day instead of going to work in the fields or at the market,” laments a farmer from Gaturanda. This situation further weakens already vulnerable households.

Another source of concern : the patrols are carried out by civilians in ordinary clothing, sometimes armed with knives, a practice that many residents consider an informal and dangerous militarization of the civilian population.

Regional tensions in the background

These measures come in a particularly tense regional context. Burundian authorities closed the land borders with Rwanda in January 2024, accusing Kigali of supporting armed groups hostile to the Burundian government and of harboring the alleged perpetrators of the attempted coup in May 2015. Rwanda categorically rejects these accusations.

The crisis is also part of the escalating conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Gitega accuses Kigali of providing military support to the M23 rebels, while Rwanda accuses Burundi and the DRC of backing the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose members are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi describes the FDLR as a “residual force reduced to banditry.”

M23 Advances and repercussions in Burundi

Reactivated in 2021, the M23, composed mainly of Congolese Tutsis, now controls several strategic territories in North and South Kivu. Despite repeated denials from Kigali, a recent report by United Nations experts, dismissed as a “sham” by Rwandan authorities, claims the presence of 5,000 to 7,000 Rwandan soldiers alongside AFC/M23 fighters.

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

Since early December, the rebels have made dramatic advances in South Kivu, seizing several strategic locations, including the city of Uvira, situated just a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital. The fighting continues despite the Washington Agreement, signed on December 4, 2025, between the DRC and Rwanda under US mediation. Burundi participated in the agreement as an observer, represented by President Évariste Ndayishimiye.

Faced with the M23’s advances in the Rusizi Plain, Burundi has withdrawn a large portion of its troops deployed in the DRC since March 2023, where they were supporting the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) and the Wazalendo militias allied with the Congolese government.

Growing humanitarian pressure

The violence in December has already driven nearly 90,000 Congolese refugees to flee to Burundi, adding to the tens of thousands who arrived earlier in the year. This situation is exacerbating the humanitarian and security pressure in several provinces of the country.

In this volatile context, the residents of Butanyerera are calling for an urgent reassessment of the night patrols, which they consider abusive, contrary to fundamental rights, and likely to exacerbate social tensions in a region already weakened by regional dynamics.