Burundi · UNGA 81 speech
Representative
No video published yet
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, the delegation of Burundi thanks you for having given us the floor to exercise our right of reply, so that we might bring the necessary clarification to the remarks made by Rwanda. Burundi firmly repudiates the allegation issued by the delegation of Rwanda, according to which the National Defence Forces of Burundi operating in the DRC are supposedly have been aligned to the FLDR. This information has no legal foundation, has no foundation whatsoever. The presence of Burundian forces in the DRC has a clear legal underpinning. That is the bilateral cooperation agreement for defence signed on the 6th of March 2023 in Bujumbura. That was signed between the government of Burundi and the government of the DRC. This agreement also authorizes, as appropriate, the conduct of joint operations The deployment of the FDNB in the DRC is thus being conducted at the request of and with the explicit consent of the Congolese authorities, in accordance with the provisions of this agreement. It is important to underscore that this legal and consent-based presence cannot be likened to that of the LDF. whose military engagement in the DRC is being conducted without the authorization of the Congolese state and in other terms is in a violation of its sovereignty and the notion of the inviolability of its borders. Any attempt to establish a parallel between official cooperation between the Burundi and the DRC and activities conducted by armed groups such as the FDLR is an act of defamation, a distortion of reality. Burundi is not in line with any armed group operating against a neighboring state Burundi remains committed to Regional stability to the fight against armed groups and to stringent compliance with the principle of the sovereignty of States its cooperation with the DRC is state to state cooperation based on formal agreements made between two sovereign governments Burundi reaffirms that its military presence in the DRC is something that falls within the exclusive purview of a bilateral framework and has no direct or indirect link to the FDLR. Faithful to the principles of the United Nations Charter, Burundi remains committed to dialogue, regional cooperation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Thank you, Mr. President.