Burundi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Edouard Bizimana (pictured above) has claimed that a Rwandan rebel outfit FDLR operating in DRC doesn’t exist.
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda known in French as Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) has been operating in Democratic Republic of Congo since 2000.
The outfit has since been designated as a terrorist organisation by Washington.
“FDLR is just an alibi used to cover real motivations of the war imposed on Congolese people.Toute solution durable devrait tenir compte de cette réalité,” Bizimana said via X platform handle.
In a sharp criticism against Bizimana’s post, Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe responded, “It’s appalling to note that the Chairperson of the African Union, whose army collaborates with the FDLR in eastern DRC, continues to deny the existence of a genocidal force that was condemned on multiple occasions by the very organisation he chairs.”
Nduhungirehe reminded Bizimana that he is not only the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burundi but also the Chairperson of the AU Executive Council.
“If Bizimana doesn’t read documents of the organisation he chairs, let me remind him that the AU adopted multiple resolutions condemning the FDLR genocidal force and calling for its disarmament and repatriation,” Nduhungirehe said.
He added, “Let me also remind Bizimana that the AU, through its mediation, unreservedly supports the Washington Accords, which were signed in the presence of President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
It should be remembered that on 27 June 2025 Kinshasa government signed the Washington Peace Agreement and the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity of 4 December 2025, in which it committed to neutralize the FDLR.
“How then is it possible that Édouard Bizimana, whose country is not signatory to those Accords, comes from nowhere to claim that the FDLR is an “alibi” (for whatever it means)?,” Nduhungirehe wondered.
Nduhungirehe urged The African Union to be serious and avoid handing over the reins of the organisation to people who obviously don’t have the capacity to lead it.
