The soldiers had been operating in several areas of South Kivu province, including Luvungi, Sange, Luberizi and Kiliba, where heavy clashes took place between December 2-9, 2025.
The fighting pitted fighters from the M23 rebel group against Congolese government forces, supported by troops from Burundi, alongside Wazalendo militia groups and the FDLR.
At the start of the clashes, Burundi had deployed an estimated 20,000 soldiers in South Kivu. During the fighting, the Burundian contingent suffered heavy losses, including soldiers who were killed, captured or wounded.
Those injured were evacuated to several medical facilities, among them Kamenge Military Hospital, Tanganyika Care Polyclinic and Kira Hospital.
The AFC/M23 rebel coalition has acknowledged capturing a number of Burundian soldiers during the fighting in the Rusizi Valley. It said it would continue to respect the rights of those in its custody and indicated that it would facilitate their return home.
While M23 has not released an exact figure, sources in South Kivu indicate that the number of captured Burundian soldiers is believed to be in the hundreds.
On January 4, 2026, the Burundian human rights organisation FOCODE reported that more than 1,000 Burundian soldiers had gone missing in the Rusizi Valley.
The organisation said it remains unclear whether the missing soldiers are alive, were captured, deserted or were killed during the fighting.
'Following the recent fighting in Congo, soldiers deployed in the Kamanyola Lubarika Luvungi area of the Rusizi Valley confirm that more than 1,000 soldiers are unaccounted for by the army,' the organisation said. 'It is not known whether they were killed in combat, deserted, were captured, or are still wandering in the forests.'
Meanwhile, another reliable source in Burundi claims that the number of Burundian soldiers missing in the Rusizi Valley stands at 1,794, asserting that all of them deserted the army and that their current whereabouts remain unknown.
IGIHE
