APA – Bujumbura (Burundi) At least 34 Burundian soldiers are being detained in Ruyigi Central Prison in eastern Burundi after allegedly deserting the battlefield of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
They were drafted to fight against the M23 rebels who have overran much of eastern DRC.
Military reports said that the arrested soldiers refused to fight the M23 and are being prosecuted for “insurrection”, among other charges.
The men in uniform, who belong to different battalions of the Burundian army, were arrested on the orders of the Burundian army headquarters on December 9, according to sources.
“Some of them were held in the military police cell in Bujumbura (a commercial city). Others were taken to dungeons in military camps in Mujejuru (Bujumbura province) and Muzinda (Bubanza province) in the west. All of them stayed there for more than a month” reports said.
When they were arrested on December 9, 2023, most of the soldiers were robbed of everything they had on them including mobile phones and money.
“A few were tortured,” the sources said.
According to sources at Ruyigi Central Prison, all 34 soldiers, including three non-commissioned officers, the rest being rank-and-file men, were heard by military judges. They had moved from Bujumbura, where the military prosecutor’s office for Ruyigi is located.
All arrested soldiers had spent more than seven months deployed in eastern DR Congo where they refused to join forces with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In December last year , Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye said it was normal for Burundian soldiers to be killed on Congolese territory and that it was also natural for the unruly to be imprisoned if they refused orders.
CU/as/APA