{"id":7005,"date":"2026-03-02T03:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=7005"},"modified":"2026-03-02T03:24:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:24:00","slug":"hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc-as-border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2026\/03\/02\/hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc-as-border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds return from Burundi to DRC as border shut by M23 fighting reopens\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/2\/25\/hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc-as-border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens\">https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/2\/25\/hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc- -border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">M23 rebels have been capturing DRC cities such as Uriva on a higher scale since 2025, when the longstanding conflict escalated further. On December 9, M23 took full control of Uriva. This resulted in thousands of civilians crossing the Kavimvira\u2013Gatumba border into Burundi, a country already hosting thousands of refugees, but the border post closed soon after. A week ago, however, the border post reopened and the refugees were able to return to their homes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The article also gives a background on M23. The conflict started in 2012 and resurged again in 2021 and 2025. They were accused of being supported by Rwanda since they\u2019re fighting \u201cfor\u201d the Tutsi minority.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, the article highlighted how Burundi and Urivan towns are interdependent despite their locations because of jobs, trade, healthcare, etc.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Class Connection:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article connects to IBGP concepts of human rights, the relationship between power and sovereignty, and interdependence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Analysis:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article illustrates the relationship between power, sovereignty, and interdependence, which is important because it raises concerns regarding how quickly internal structural violence can escalate to cross-border conflict. This event is one of many where \u201cwinning\u201d is just the bare minimum; if the government in an underdeveloped country doesn\u2019t actually utilize their monopoly on violence, then another group (in this case M23) will. After reading this, I wonder why exactly the borders opened up again, especially since the article claimed that M23 opened it after diplomatic pressure from the US. Obviously, M23 is more likely to listen to the US rather than the DRC because so much illicit trade occurs between American Corporations and M23 for critical resources like cobalt and copper. After exerting all this hard power and force and then just reopening the borders, I assume that there will be a resurgence of violence in that area within the next 6 months if the DRC believes there\u2019s peace and reduces military presence there. This is because they have a pattern of seizing territory (in an attempt to form a pseudo-state) during government shifts, low military presence, etc.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A local Congolese also mentioned how the two areas are interdependent in terms of job markets, trade, and even healthcare, highlighting the idea that smaller, underdeveloped countries often lean on each other and keep close diplomatic relations to create a support system that P5 countries might not be dying to offer; this way, they can close certain disparities while also maintaining sovereignty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article also indicates that there\u2019s a potential for M23 to start moving into Burundi (since Tutsis are also the minority there), if given the opportunity, sparking further regional conflict that the US would likely address once again even though they don\u2019t have the authority to do that. A cross-border conflict could also create further fluctuations in the economy (and make MNCs lots of money through black-market resource trade). Looking ahead, it\u2019s likely that there will also be a surge in DRC militias that operate like the IRGC so that they can fill the gaps that exist within the Congolese armed forces.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/2\/25\/hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc- -border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens Summary: M23 rebels have been capturing DRC cities such as Uriva on a higher scale since 2025, when the longstanding conflict escalated further. On December 9, M23 took full control of Uriva. This resulted in thousands of civilians crossing the Kavimvira\u2013Gatumba border into Burundi, a country already hosting thousands of refugees, but the border post closed soon after&#8230;. <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2026\/03\/02\/hundreds-return-from-burundi-to-drc-as-border-shut-by-m23-fighting-reopens\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":319,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7006,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions\/7006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}