Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Monday, December 8, 2025, is a day Joseph Bahisi will always remember.
The M23 rebel group, which captured several major towns and cities in eastern DRC early last year, was rampaging through South Kivu province on its way to his hometown of Uvira.
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The city is located at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, opposite Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura. At the time, the region was the last major area under government control, as the Congolese army, along with an allied militia called Wazalendo, fought against the Rwandan-backed M23/AFC alliance.
That Monday, fighting reached Uvira and residents panicked.
Fearing for himself and his family, Bahish, a 40-year-old father of four, packed the few belongings and kitchen utensils he could carry into a suitcase, gathered his family and fled.
“When we heard that fighting was approaching Uvira, we decided it was best for our own safety to leave,” he told Al Jazeera.
The move was to protect families from the “shadow of death” following the violence and killings that had already occurred in Lubungi, Ruberizi, Kamanyora and Sange, surrounding areas where M23 and the military were confronting each other.
The Bahish left their homes and walked about 5 kilometers (3 miles) across the Kabinvila-Gatumba border into Burundi, where they arrived at Rumonge refugee camp along with tens of thousands of others who had fled there. According to the United Nations, around 90,000 Congolese people have fled to Burundi since the M23 attack on Uvira.
On Tuesday, December 9, M23 entered Uvira and took full control a day later.
When the city fell on December 10, Burundian authorities closed the Kawim Vila (also known as Kanvi Vila) post citing security concerns.
Just a week later, the border remained closed, even though the M23 began withdrawing from Uvira under pressure from the United States and other conflict mediators.
Mr. Bahish and the other fugitives remained trapped in Burundi, unsure of what happened to their homes and belongings or when they would return.
But after nearly three months of uncertainty, the Post officially reopened this Monday, much to the relief of tens of thousands of people who immediately started filtering.
Having left everything behind, Bahish wondered what he would find when he returned.
“I hope that by the grace of God I will find my car when I get home, although I have heard that some of the cars have been taken by M23 rebels,” he said as he walked along a road about 200 meters (650 feet) from the Congolese side of the border.
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, intensified the following year, and resumed in 2021. Then, in January 2025, rebel forces expanded and took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and the following month they captured Bukavu, the capital of neighboring South Kivu province.
M23 claims to be fighting for the rights of the minority Tutsi community, which has been marginalized by the state. The Congolese government has accused the rebels and neighboring Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting the rebels, of stealing land and resources.
Two separate peace negotiation processes took place last year. One was between the DRC and M23, mediated by Qatar, and the other between Kinshasa and Kigali, mediated by the United States.
Despite an agreed ceasefire, fighting continues in the east of the country.
In the latest incident on Tuesday, Willy Ngoma, a military spokesman for the M23 rebel group, was killed in a Congolese military drone strike, the news agency reported, citing local officials and United Nations officials.
Separately this week, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sent a joint exploration and assessment team to Uvira to assess the security situation and support implementation of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism agreed to in the Qatar agreement.
However, tensions near the Kabimbira border have subsided, allowing the military camp to reopen.
On the Burundian side, Maurice Mbonimpa, inspector general of the Immigration Department, visited the border early Monday morning and told staff that no exceptional measures would be announced and that operations would resume as usual.
At Kavimbira Post Office, the wooden immigration office opened after being padlocked for weeks, and hundreds of people rushed to the checkpoint. Some had travel documents, but many did not.
On the Democratic Republic of Congo side, local authorities said there was no ban on those seeking to enter the country without immigration documents, as many Congolese had fled without identification documents. However, the movement of people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Burundi was more tightly controlled.
By the afternoon of the first day, nearly 500 Congolese refugees stranded in Burundi had returned to Uvira.
“Important for the people of both countries”
While the reopening has brought hope to those displaced from Uvira, the border crossing also plays an important role in the local economy of surrounding communities, from merchants to students.
Lucy Binja, a 25-year-old student and resident of Uvira, said she was pleased with the reopening, saying Uvira and Burundi’s towns across the southern border are “interdependent.”
“Economically speaking, open borders are important for the people of both countries. Many Burundians come here in search of work and vice versa.
“We Congolese from Uvira generally prefer to receive treatment in Burundi because Burundi has good hospitals and treatment costs are relatively low,” she said, hoping that the “friendship” between the two countries would continue to strengthen the “fraternal” bonds.
Ghislain Cabamba, a social activist from Uvira, said the border closure was a “huge blow” for the city’s residents.
“After the border between our two countries was closed, we faced food shortages. The reopening of this border is very important because it will bring relief to the thousands of Burundian and Congolese families who earn their living through work on both sides of the border,” he said.
Marte Kakashi (32) is a mother of two who works as a trader in the border area.
Like the Bahish, she and her family fled to Burundi just before M23 entered Uvira. She ended up spending several months living in a tent in Bweru refugee camp in Buhumza province.
She recalled that there was unprecedented panic in Kavimbira prior to the fall of Uvira to the advance of rebel forces.
She said the makeshift restaurant was left with utensils strewn across the floor and the faces of Congolese soldiers and families of Wazalendo fighters showed signs of distress.
Packing her two sons and husband onto her electric scooter, known locally as Bajaja, she was returning to Uvira in the hope of resuming trading as soon as possible.
“I can’t believe that Uvira is still standing after everything I saw when I fled. Seeing the leader of my family suffer so much made me question the existence of our country,” she said.
But “I am confident that once the authorities stabilize everything, we will recover economically,” she added with a hopeful smile.
“Complete repatriation”
Despite the reopening of its borders, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday that Burundi, which is hosting tens of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is increasing humanitarian pressure.
Dunia Missi, a civil society activist in Uvira, said everyone on both sides was doing their best to ensure the return of refugees, and she was grateful for this.
But she also said: “We recommend that the Congolese authorities organize a complete repatriation of our compatriots in Bujumbura.”
The Bahish were housed in the Rumonge camp in southwestern Burundi, where a cholera outbreak in late 2025 killed at least seven Congolese refugees in the first two weeks.
Bahish said she felt Burundi and Congolese authorities had abandoned the refugees, living in dire conditions without access to clean water or food, and experiencing dark moments during and after her escape.
However, things changed when I returned home.
“I’m very happy to be back in my hometown,” he told Al Jazeera. “I can breathe in the air of my nostalgic homeland.”
