Burundi’s tyrant, ex-FDD warlord Evariste Ndayishimiye aka Gen. Neva is going bonkers. The man can’t keep the lights on in Bujumbura; can’t find fuel for ambulances; salaries for civil servants, and so on.
But somehow, he still finds the ability to ship off thousands of starving Burundian troops to the DRC.
Why? Gen. Neva’s on Tshisekedi’s payroll, pathetic as it is, it’s the case (of course other than their shared anti-Tutsi ideology).
The Congolese warmonger, having lost most of eastern DRC to the Congolese M23/AFC, now remains only with Gen. Neva. The FDLR was completely routed. Tshisekedi’s own army FARDC were clobbered together with them, not mentioning SADC-bloc forces, and European mercenaries.
Equally hammered, even worse in fact, were the Burundians.
But no one is a fool like Neva, who gladly throws Burundian lives into the fire for a few Congolese francs.
Yes, while Neva’s government can’t even keep the lights on in Bujumbura or buy fuel for ambulances, he’s deployed fresh cannon fodder into Sange town in Uvira Territory, complete with 107mm cannons. Meanwhile, his artillery crews, armed with 120mm and 122mm Soviet antiques, have flooded the Vugizo border.
Yet nothing has changed in the situation of the Burundians. They are the same poor fellows that were routed and ran away from Goma and Bukavu.
Gen. Neva is too desperate and out of ideas.
Tshisekedi, who’s lost nearly all of eastern Congo, still refuses to negotiate with the M23/AFC and accept reality: a Federal State is inevitable.
But instead of diplomacy, he bankrolls Neva’s soldiers to do the dirty work, including fighting alongside the FDLR (those responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi) and Wazalendo militias. Neva, always eager for a paycheck, plays along like a good lapdog.
What do Burundian soldiers get in return? They simply vanish, buried in unmarked graves or forgotten entirely. Soldiers who manage to escape end up in the hills, terrified of the AFC/M23 and hunted by their military.
The pity is Burundians are dying for a war they didn’t choose, for a president they never wanted, and for a paycheck that never arrives.
ellenkampire