Burundi will deploy 100 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, March 4, 2023, to take part in the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF). According to AFP, the peacekeepers will be deployed to North Kivu Province in the towns of Kitshanga and Kilorirwe (both occupied by the M23 insurgents) and the town of Sake. Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, and South Sudan have committed to sending forces to eastern DRC to serve as part of the EACRF, but only Kenya has made good on sending its allotted number of troops so far. The Rwandan government has been instructed to keep its forces on its side of the border with the DRC because the Congolese government and several Western nations and the UN have accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 insurgents. The M23 began occupying large territories in North Kivu in late 2021. The East African Community (EAC) agreed to send troops to eastern DRC to defeat the more than 130 insurgencies operating in the region in accordance with the 20th Extra-Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State held on February 4, 2023, in Bujumbura, Burundi; the EAC Chiefs of Defense Forces/Staffs held on February 9 in Nairobi, Kenya; and the Mini-Summit on Peace and Security on February 17 in Eastern DRC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. According to AFP, a new timetable set forth by the EAC mandates that all armed groups operating in eastern DRC must withdraw by March 30.

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