Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Monday, December 8, 2025, is a day Joseph Bahisi says he will always remember.
M23 rebels, who early last year captured several key towns and cities in eastern DRC, were rampaging through South Kivu province, on their way to his hometown of Uvira.
list of 3 items
list 1 of 3‘We don’t care about politics’: Violence-hit Uvira locals just want peace
list 2 of 3M23 fighters withdraw from key DRC town of Uvira
list 3 of 3Congolese see hopes for peace fade as M23 and army fight on in eastern DRC
end of list
The city is located at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, across from Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura. It was then the last major area under government control, as Congolese armed forces – together with allied militias, called Wazalendo – fought the Rwanda-backed M23/AFC alliance.
That Monday, the fighting reached Uvira, and residents panicked.
Afraid for himself and his family, Bahisi, a 40-year-old father of four, packed up the few belongings and kitchen utensils he could carry in a suitcase, gathered his family and fled.
“When I heard that fighting was approaching Uvira, we decided it would be best to leave for our own safety,” he told Al Jazeera.
It was to spare his family from the “shadow of death” following the violence and killings that had already taken place in Luvungi, Luberizi, Kamanyola and Sange – surrounding areas where M23 and the army were squaring off.
The Bahisis left home, walking about five kilometres (three miles) and crossing the Kavimvira–Gatumba border into Burundi, where they ended up at Rumonge refugee camp with tens of thousands of others who had fled. According to the United Nations, some 90,000 Congolese had fled to Burundi since the M23 offensive on Uvira.
On Tuesday, December 9, M23 entered Uvira and took full control a day later.
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When the city fell on December 10, Burundian authorities shut the Kavimvira (also known as Kamvivira) post, citing security concerns.
Even though just a week later, M23 began retreating from Uvira after pressure from the United States and other conflict mediators, the border remained closed.
Bahisis and others who fled were left trapped in Burundi, not knowing what had happened to their homes and belongings, or when they would return.
But this Monday, after nearly three months of uncertainty, the post officially reopened, to the relief of tens of thousands who immediately began filtering through.
Bahisi, who had left everything behind, wondered what he would find upon his return.
“I hope that when I get home, I will find my vehicle by the grace of God, although I have heard that some vehicles have been taken by the M23 rebels,” he said, walking on the road some 200 metres (650 feet) from the border on the Congolese side.
Congolese civilians return to their homes following displacement during clashes between M23 and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Uvira town, South Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in December [File: Reuters]
A year of violence
M23 has been in a tense and violent conflict with the Congolese government for more than a decade. The first fighting began in 2012 but de-escalated the next year, only to resume in 2021. Then, in January 2025, the rebels gained ground, seizing Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, before taking Bukavu, the capital of neighbouring South Kivu, the next month.
M23 claims it is fighting for the rights of the minority Tutsi community, who it says has been marginalised by the state. The Congolese government has condemned the rebels and neighbouring Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting them, for seizing land and resources.
Last year, two separate peace negotiation processes took place – one between DRC and M23 mediated by Qatar, and a separate one between Kinshasa and Kigali mediated by the US.
Despite agreed ceasefires, fighting has continued in the east of the country.
In the latest incident on Tuesday, Willy Ngoma, a military spokesperson for the M23 rebels, was killed in a Congolese army drone strike, according to news agencies citing local officials and a UN source.
Separately this week, the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC deployed a joint exploratory assessment team to Uvira to evaluate security conditions and support the implementation of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism agreed to in the Qatar deal.
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Tensions near the Kavimvira border have decreased, though, allowing the post to reopen.
Early on Monday morning on the Burundian side, Inspector General of Migration Maurice Mbonimpa visited the border to inform his officers that services would resume as before, with no exceptional measures announced.
At the Kavimvira post, the wooden immigration offices – which were padlocked for weeks – opened and hundreds of people rushed to the crossing. Though some had travel documents, many did not.
On the DRC side, local authorities said people wishing to enter the country without immigration documents were not prohibited from doing so, as many Congolese fled without their identity documents. But from DRC into Burundi, the movement of people was more closely controlled.
By the afternoon of the first day, nearly 500 Congolese refugees who were stranded in Burundi had returned to Uvira.
Congolese officials from the Direction Generale des Migrations (DGM) prepare to process travellers during the reopening of the Congo-Burundi Kavimvira border post and transit centre on Monday [Victoire Mukenge/Reuters]
‘Important for both our peoples’
Although the reopening has brought hope among those who were displaced from Uvira, the border crossing also plays a key role in the local economy of surrounding communities, from traders to students.
Lucie Binja, 25, a student and resident of Uvira, was delighted by the reopening, saying Uvira and the Burundian towns across the border to the south are “interdependent”.
“Economically speaking, the opening of the border is important for both our peoples. Many Burundians come here to look for jobs, and vice versa.
“We Congolese from Uvira generally like to seek medical treatment in Burundi because they have good hospitals and care is relatively cheaper,” she said, hoping that “friendly” and “fraternal” ties between the two peoples will continue to strengthen.
Ghislain Kabamba, a social activist in Uvira, noted that the closure of the border was a “hard blow” for the city’s inhabitants.
“We were facing food shortages following the closure of the border between our two countries. The reopening of this border is very important because it will bring relief to thousands of Burundian and Congolese families who make their living from work on both sides of the border,” he said.
Marthe Kakasi, 32, is a mother of two who works as a trader along the border region.
Like the Bahisis, she and her family also took refuge in Burundi just before M23 entered Uvira. She ended up spending months sheltered in a tent in Bweru refugee camp, in Buhumuza province.
There was unprecedented panic in Kavimvira preceding the fall of Uvira as the rebels advanced, she recalled.
Makeshift restaurants were abandoned with utensils scattered on the floor, she said, and the distress was visible on the faces of the family members of Congolese soldiers and Wazalendo fighters.
Crammed into a motorised scooter, known locally as a bajaja, with her two sons and her husband, she was returning to Uvira with the hope that she could resume trading as soon as possible.
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“I can’t believe my eyes that Uvira can still stand after everything I saw when I fled. Seeing family leaders in such distress made me doubt the existence of our country as a nation,” she said.
But “if the authorities stabilise everything, I am convinced that we will recover economically,” she added with a hopeful smile.
Congolese travellers gather during the reopening of the Kavimvira border post [Victoire Mukenge/Reuters]
‘Full repatriation’
Despite the reopening of the border, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday that Burundi was under increasing humanitarian pressure as it hosts tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in the DRC.
Dunia Missi, a civil society activist in Uvira, says everyone on both sides is doing their best to ensure refugees return – something she is thankful for.
But she also said she “recommends that the Congolese authorities organise the full repatriation of our compatriots who are in Bujumbura”.
The Bahisis were housed in Rumonge camp in southwestern Burundi, which experienced a cholera outbreak in late 2025 that left at least seven Congolese refugees dead in the first two weeks.
Bahisi feels the Burundian and Congolese authorities had abandoned displaced people, saying he experienced dark moments during and after his escape, living in dire conditions without access to clean water and food.
But returning home has made a difference.
“We are very happy to be back home,” he told Al Jazeera. “We can breathe the air of our homeland, which we have missed.”
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