Hundreds return from Burundi to DRC as border closed by M23 fighting reopens | Armed Groups News

Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Monday, December 8, 2025, is a day Joseph Bahisi says he will always remember.

M23 rebels, who captured several key towns and cities in eastern DRC early last year, raced through South Kivu province, heading for their home town of Uvira.

The city is located at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, opposite Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura. It was then the last major area under government control, as the Congolese armed forces – along with allied militias – called Wazalendo – fought the Rwanda-backed M23/AFC alliance.

That Monday, the fighting reached Uvira, and residents panicked.

Afraid for himself and his family, Bahisi, a 40-year-old father of four, packed the few belongings and kitchen utensils he could carry into a suitcase, gathered his family and fled.

“When I heard that fighting was approaching Uvira, we decided it would be best to leave for our own safety,” he told Al Jazeera.

It was to spare his family from the “shadow of death” after the violence and murders which had already taken place in Luvungi, Luberizi, Kamanyola and Sange – surrounding areas where M23 and the military were squaring off.

The Bahisis left home, walked about five kilometers (three miles) and crossed the Kavimvira-Gatumba border into Burundi, where they ended up at the Rumonge refugee camp with tens of thousands of others who fled. According to the United Nations, around 90,000 Congolese have fled to Burundi since the M23 offensive on Uvira.

On Tuesday 9 December, M23 entered Uvira and took full control a day later.

When the city fell on December 10, Burundian authorities closed the Kavimvira (also known as Kamvivira) post, citing security concerns.

Even if it’s only a week later, M23 began to retreat of Uvira after pressure from the United States and other conflict mediators, the border remained closed.

Bahisis and others who fled were left stranded in Burundi, not knowing what happened to their homes and belongings, or when they would return.

But this Monday, after nearly three months of uncertainty, the post officially reopened, to the relief of tens of thousands who immediately began trickling in.

Bahisi, who had left everything behind, wondered what he would find on his return.

“I hope that when I get home, I will find my vehicle by the grace of God, although I heard that some vehicles were taken by the M23 rebels,” he said as he walked on the road about 200 meters (650 feet) from the border on the Congolese side.

A year of violence

M23 has been in a tense and violent conflict with the Congolese government for more than a decade. The first fighting began in 2012, but escalated the following year, only to resume in 2021. Then, in January 2025, the rebels gained ground and seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, before taking Bukavu, the capital of neighboring South Kivu, the following month.

M23 claims to be fighting for the rights of the Tutsi minority community, which it says has been marginalized by the state. The Congolese government has condemned the rebels and neighboring Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting them, for seizing land and resources.

Last year, two separate peace negotiation processes took place – one between DRC and M23 mediated by Qatar, and a separate one between Kinshasa and Kigali mediated by the US.

Despite agreeing to a ceasefire, fighting continued in the east of the country.

In the latest incident on Tuesday, Willy Ngoma, a military spokesman for the M23 rebels, was killed in a Congolese army drone strike, according to news agencies citing local officials and a UN source.

Separately, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC this week deployed a joint exploratory assessment team to Uvira to assess security conditions and support the implementation of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism agreed to in the Qatar agreement.

However, tension near the Kavimvira border eased, prompting the reopening of the post.

Early Monday morning on the Burundian side, Inspector General of Migration Maurice Mbonimpa visited the border to inform his officers that services would resume as soon as possible, with no exceptional measures announced.

At the Kavimvira post, the wooden immigration offices – which had been closed for weeks – opened and hundreds of people rushed to the crossing. Although some had travel documents, many did not.

On the DRC side, local authorities said people who want to enter the country without immigration documents are not barred from doing so, as many Congolese have fled without their identity documents. But from DRC to Burundi, the movement of people is more closely controlled.

By the afternoon of the first day, nearly 500 Congolese refugees stranded in Burundi had returned to Uvira.

‘Important to both of us’

Although the reopening has brought hope to those displaced from Uvira, the border crossing also plays a key role in the local economy of surrounding communities, from traders to students.

Lucie Binja, 25, a student and resident of Uvira, was delighted with the reopening and said Uvira and the Burundian towns across the border to the south were “dependent on each other.”

“Economically speaking, opening the border is important for both of us. Many Burundians come here to look for work, and vice versa.

“Us Congolese from Uvira usually like to seek medical treatment in Burundi because they have good hospitals and care is relatively cheaper,” she said, hoping that “friendly” and “fraternal” ties between the two peoples will continue to strengthen.

Ghislain Kabamba, a social activist in Uvira, noted that the closure of the border was a “hard blow” to the city’s residents.

“We faced food shortages after the closure of the border between our two countries. The reopening of this border is very important because it will bring relief to thousands of Burundian and Congolese families who make their living working on both sides of the border,” he said.

Marthe Kakasi (32) is a mother of two who works as a trader along the border region.

Like the Bahisis, she and her family also took refuge in Burundi just before M23 entered Uvira. She ended up spending months in a tent in the Bweru refugee camp, in Buhumuza province.

There was unprecedented panic in Kavimvira that preceded the fall of Uvira as the rebels advanced, she recalled.

Timed restaurants were abandoned with utensils strewn on the floor, she said, and the distress was evident on the faces of the relatives of Congolese soldiers and Wazalendo fighters.

Crammed on a motorized scooter, locally known as a Bajaja, with her two sons and her husband, she returned to Uvira hoping to trade as soon as possible.

“I can’t believe my eyes that Uvira can still stand after everything I saw when I fled. Seeing family leaders in such distress made me doubt the existence of our country as a nation,” she said.

But “if the authorities stabilize everything, I am convinced that we will recover economically,” she added with a hopeful smile.

‘Full Repatriation’

Despite the reopening of the border, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday that Burundi is under increasing humanitarian pressure as it hosts tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in the DRC.

Dunia Missi, a civil society activist in Uvira, says everyone on both sides is doing their best to ensure that refugees return – something for which she is grateful.

But she also said she “recommends that the Congolese authorities arrange the full repatriation of our compatriots who are in Bujumbura.”

The Bahisis were housed in the Rumonge camp in southwestern Burundi, which experienced a cholera outbreak in late 2025 that left at least seven Congolese refugees dead in the first two weeks.

Bahisi feels that the Burundian and Congolese authorities have abandoned displaced people, and says he experienced dark moments during and after his escape, living in dire conditions without access to clean water and food.

But returning home made a difference.

“We are very happy to be back home,” he told Al Jazeera. “We can breathe the air of our homeland, which we have missed.”