Burundi has been deploying large numbers of troops and heavy weapons near the Rwandan border for days as tensions between the two countries continue to simmer.
The Burundian government is under pressure after its own troops, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Wazalendo and FDLR groups seized large parts of the Rusizi Valley in South Kivu Province from the AFC/M23.
Before the UN Security Council, Burundi’s Ambassador, Zéphyrin Maniratanga, recently said that Rwanda supports the AFC/M23, and that his country can confront it.
A senior Burundian military official told SOS Medias that the large number of troops and heavy weapons have been deployed, especially in Busoni commune, Butanyerera province, near the Gasenyi-Nemba border.
The soldier said, “There are strong weapons in place to prevent anything from coming from Rwanda.”
Burundian police trucks were recently seen in Busoni transporting other soldiers to camps including the 411th located in Mutwenzi, as this website further explained.
Patrols in parts of Burundi near the Rwandan border have been stepped up. Police and the Imbonerakure youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party have been seen on the streets at night.
No announcements have been made in areas near the border asking Burundians to leave early, but no one is allowed to be on the streets after 8 a.m.
A resident of the Munzenze area said, “They are ordered to leave early, before 8 a.m. It is not written anywhere, but we all know what it means.”
Burundians living along the border are fearful because they believe that war between the two countries could break out at any moment. “We sleep in our clothes, ready to flee if there is gunfire,” a resident explained.
In the Bujumbura province, the former Cibitoke area, security has also been tightened. The heavy weapons deployed there were the ones that fired the bombs at the Kamanyola center, near the Bugarama border in Rwanda.
The Burundian army's shelling of Kamanyola prompted AFC/M23 fighters to launch a campaign to capture parts of the Rusizi Valley as far as the town of Uvira on Lake Tanganyika.
Reliable sources confirm that Burundi has been buying a large amount of heavy weapons and combat drones for some time, apparently in preparation for a major war. Some of them were used in the fighting in South Kivu.
In the past two weeks, 30 trucks loaded with weapons arrived at the Mukoni military base in Buhumuza Province. They were unloaded over three days.
