The Burundian army on Monday rejected allegations by Kinshasa that had deployed its forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The army ”denies categorically allegations by Kinshasa which claim we have deployed our troops and military supplies in the east of the DRC,” said Colonel Augustin Nzabampema in a statement.
Clashes have broken out in the last four days in the the country’s eastern regions between rebel forces from the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and Mai Mai militia groups.
Burundian armies had embarked on a major offensive in eastern DRC, particularly in the Ituri region and the Fizi Baraka highlands.
Rwandan officials on Sunday rejected the accusations. Rwanda has backed the RCD, which has been fighting the Kinshasa government as part of a complex war that began in 1998.
Burundi has invited the UN observer mission in the DRC (MONUC) to investigate the claims.
”Those responsible for these allegations know full well that they are lies,” Nzabampema said.
On Monday, a representative for the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) — a Hutu rebel movement that has waged war against Burundi’s mainly Tutsi army since 1993 — also accused Burundi of intervening again in support of RCD rebels.
”The Burundian army has intervened in Baraka, Mboko and Uvira (in eastern DRC) and today, some 15 Burundian military trucks came across the Congolese border with soldiers on board,” FDD representative Lieutenant Gelase Daniel Ndabirabe told AFP, adding it was a violations of the ceasefire agreement recently signed between the FDD and the Burundian government.
On December 3, Burundian President Pierre Buyoya and FDD chief Pierre Nkurunziza signed an historic ceasefire agreement aimed at ending a civil war which has left around 300 000 people dead. – Sapa-AFP