AFC/M23 refuses to send envoy to Burundi
The leader of the AFC/M23 coalition fighting the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, has denied sending a delegation to Burundi.
Africa Intelligence recently reported that AFC/M23 delegations met with Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye and informed him that his forces should not sacrifice their fighters when they were about to take the city of Uvira.
The newspaper explained that President Ndayishimiye was warned that if his forces interfered in the battle, they would be shot like any other enemy.
This news was announced at a time when senior AFC/M23 leaders had been warning the Congolese that they could launch a campaign to take Uvira.
One of them is the Governor of South Kivu Province, Busu Bwa Ngwi, who said, “Gen Maj Sultani Makenga told me, ‘Go and talk to my brothers over there in Kamanyola, tell them that in a few days we will go and take Uvira.’”
In a press conference held by the AFC/M23 leadership on October 23, 2025, Nangaa announced that the side they were talking to was the DRC government.
He said, “We are not in talks with Bujumbura, but we are in talks with the Kinshasa government. The Tshisekedi government said it would never talk to us, but today it is talking to us about force.”
Nangaa explained that although these talks in Doha, Qatar are ongoing, the DRC government continues to carry out attacks on civilians in the east of the country.
He said that in addition to the attacks, the DRC army, Burundian army, FDLR, Burundian army and Wazalendo have blocked the Minembwe road through which food supplies pass, with the aim of starving civilians.
He said, “All this violates the decisions taken in Doha. It shows that the Kinshasa government continues its goal of using military means to solve this problem.”
Nangaa announced that if these attacks continue, the AFC/M23 will not remain silent, but will fight for civilians as it has been committed to since its inception.
