It is an entire company, a hundred men, dressed, equipped and armed, who is expected this Saturday in Goma, explains a senior officer of the Burundian army. These soldiers should soon be deployed in Sake, 20 kilometers west of Goma ” to ensure compliance with the ceasefire between the parties “said this source. They are also expected to take up positions in Kitshanga and Kilorirwe, now under the control of the M23 rebellion.
They intervene in a very sensitive context. In accordance with a timetable adopted by East African Heads of State three weeks ago, ” all armed groups including the M23, are to withdraw from the region in a three-step process by March 30. But on the ground, the situation is uncertain.
That said, these precursor elements “, expected on Saturday, are part of a larger contingent of a thousand men, who to date are barracked near Bujumbura, explains this high-ranking Burundian, and who are ” ready to be deployed soon in turn in the DRC.
2,000 Burundian soldiers are already deployed in the DRC, under the mandate of the EAC. But them, in South Kivu. Another Burundian military source explains that the North Kivu contingent might be further increased. But she mentions financial difficulties which would limit her ability to project outside the country.
