Kinshasa, August 26th, 2021 (CPA) – The fourth Great Mixed DRC-Burundi commission scheduled for August 31st to September 2nd, 2021, in Kinshasa, is part of the decision taken by Presidents Felix Antoine Tshisekedi and Evariste Ndayishimiye activate with determination the concerted mechanisms aimed at eradicating the armed groups operating on Congolese territory and to follow very closely all questions relating to security at the borders of the two neighboring States.
Initially scheduled for August 10th to 12th, 2021, the work of this commission was postponed at the request of the Burundian side, announced the Minister in charge of Regional Integration, Didier Mazenga during the 16th meeting of the Council of Ministers on August 20th, 2021, chaired by videoconference, by the Head of State Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo.
The decision to hunt down the armed groups together was taken on July 13th, 2021, during the state visit to Kinshasa by Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, according to the joint statement released at the end of his 72-hour working stay in Kinshasa.
According to the same source, the two Heads of State also stressed the need to strengthen regional and sub-regional integration organizations to which the two countries are all members, for the promotion and consolidation of peace and security, stability and sustainable development.
They also called on the international community to invest more in the peaceful resolution of the security and humanitarian crises in the region and in other conflict zones in Africa in order to silence the guns on the continent by 2030.
“We are going to do with Burundi, which we have done with Uganda and Rwanda. It means joining our efforts through our defense and security services to hunt down the enemies of peace. A door always remains open to propose to these enemies of peace to join the initiative to put an end to the violence in this region « , declared the President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi.
The two Heads of State of the Great Lakes region had signed four memorandums of understanding, particularly in the areas of development, maintenance and strengthening of peace, defense and security, trade facilitation, development gauge railway and political and diplomatic consultations.
In terms of infrastructure, a memorandum had been signed to build the railway that will link the economic capital of Burundi to Kindu by Bujumbura, Uvira, Bukavu and Kamituga.
With this book, the two countries will have taken a big step towards socioeconomic influence, by improving the free movement of goods and people, added the President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye.
To date, there are still 45,000 Burundian refugees in DRC, despite voluntary repatriation operations last year. There are almost twice as many Congolese refugees in Burundi.
The 72-hour visit to Kinshasa of the President of Burundi, Évariste Ndayishimiye, it is said, is proof of the materialization of the will of the two Heads of State to further strengthen the excellence of relations of friendship and cooperation. bilateral which links the Congolese and Burundian peoples as well as peaceful coexistence.
This first state visit by President Évariste Ndayishimiye in DRC, since his accession to the supreme office of his country on June 18th, 2020, comes after his “special message” sent on June 28th to President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, then in working stay in Goma, Nord Kivu, through its Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, Albert Shingiro.
ACP /