Burundi reopens border with DR Congo after 2-month closure

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Burundi reopened its land border with the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, after more than two months of closure due to ongoing fighting in eastern Congo, officials said.

The Kavimvira–Gatumba border, located on the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika, is a strategic point linking Congo to Burundi’s commercial capital Bujumbura.

The border reopened on Monday at 8.00 am local time (0600GMT), Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki, the governor of South Kivu, told reporters.

Footage shared on social media showed travelers, including traders, queuing at immigration offices for clearance from the early hours of the day.

The border had been closed in early December after the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC/M23), a rebel alliance in eastern Congo that includes M23, seized Uvira city.

The rebels withdrew from the city in January following international pressure.

The New Congolese Civil Society South-South Kivu welcomed the border reopening and urged Congolese refugees, who had fled to Burundi in the wake of intensified fighting, to return home.

The border reopening came amid reports of new clashes between the rebels and government forces in several localities in North Kivu’s Masisi territory.

The recent clashes have forced thousands of people to flee their homes, according to civil society.

Earlier this month, Angola’s President Joao Lourenco proposed a ceasefire between the warring parties in eastern Congo effective Feb. 18.

The Congo said it had accepted the proposal in a “spirit of responsibility, appeasement, and the search for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

However, last Friday, the Congolese military accused AFC/M23 rebels and Rwandan soldiers of attacking its positions in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, in violation of the Angola-proposed ceasefire.

Rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka on Monday also accused “the coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime of carrying out relentless and indiscriminate bombardment of densely populated areas of Rumbishi” area.

M23 has been at the center of the conflict in eastern Congo. The rebel group supported by neighboring Rwanda, according to the UN and Western nations, controls significant territory in eastern Congo, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu seized early in 2025.

The Uvira city served as the temporary capital of South Kivu province following the capture of Bukavu by the rebels.