Burundi troops withdraw in eastern Congo
Burundi is withdrawing its forces from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they had been fighting against M23 rebels, four sources said on Tuesday, in a further blow to Congo’s army as it struggles to halt a rebel advance.
But a spokesperson for the Burundian military dismissed reports of the ongoing pull-out as “fake,” and said in a post on X that his country’s soldiers were “continuing to execute their missions in their areas of responsibility” in Congo.
The pull-out came as the United Nations human rights office accused M23 rebels of executing children in eastern Congo during their advance, which has seen the group seize the region’s two largest cities.
“A number of trucks filled with (Burundian) military arrived in the country since yesterday” through a border post, a Burundian army officer said, confirming movements also described by two UN sources and an African diplomat.
