36 Burundian rebels were killed by Congolese troops in operations against the armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese army mounted a series of operations in South Kivu aimed at regaining territory from Burundian rebel groups National Liberation Forces (FNL) and the Burundian Republican Forces.
The three-day operations saw the neutralizing of the rebels, areas recapture by the troops as well as the injury of dozens of rebels including the FNL leader general Aloyse Zabampema. DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in January, pledged to address the militia violence in the region.
The FNL is among several ethnic Hutu rebel groups that rose up to fight Burundi’s Tutsi-led military government in the 1993-2005 civil war. It officially disarmed in 2009, pockets of FNL fighters remain active in eastern Congo.
