According to reports, Burundi is removing its troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Four sources, including a Burundian army officer and two U.N. officials, told Reuters on Tuesday that Burundian troops, who have been battling the M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, were withdrawing after the city of Bukavu fell.

In late January, M23 captured Goma, the capital of the eastern Congo’s North Kivu province, and on Sunday, they took over Bukavu, the seat of South Kivu province.

“The troops from Burundi are leaving the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Burundian army commander claimed that several vehicles carrying soldiers had entered the nation through a border station since yesterday.

There have been reports of violence on Monday and Tuesday near Kamanyola border post, which is close to Bukavu city and the Burundian border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For many years, Burundi has maintained troops in eastern Congo, first to pursue Burundian rebels there and then, more recently, to support the war against M23.

An estimated 10,000 Burundi soldiers were sent to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to fight alongside the Congolese government coalition, which also included troops from the FDLR, a group connected to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi, European mercenaries, and the Southern African Development Community.