By AFP

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Burundian soldiers deployed to help quell violence in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo raped, abducted and mistreated civilians, a Burundian human rights group said Friday.

The report, by the Burundi Human Rights Initiative (BHRI), called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

The campaign of violence against the locals in South Kivu started in late 2021 "away from the public eye", said the BHRI in its report.

"Victims and their family members said that Burundian soldiers and members of the youth league of the ruling party in Burundi... raped, abducted, arbitrarily detained and ill-treated Congolese civilians and looted their belongings," it added.

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In one instance in September 2022, soldiers raped a Burundian woman and her 16-year-old sister-in-law in front of her three children, the report said.

Several other women were also raped that month by armed men in Burundian military uniform and speaking Kirundi, the official language of Burundi, the BHRI said. 

For years, Burundian forces have conducted joint operations with their Congolese counterparts in the region plagued by numerous armed groups and other militias, a legacy of regional wars that broke out in the 1990s and 2000s.  

The rights group, which is based abroad, called for credible investigations into the alleged abuses and for the punishment of soldiers found guilty and their commanders.

Read: Struggles of DR Congo displaced women

They also called on "international actors" to pressure Burundian authorities, especially President Evariste Ndayishimiye, to guarantee that proper investigations would be conducted.

"Unless this is done, there will be no justice for Congolese victims, and human rights violators in the Burundian army will continue to be promoted and rewarded," the rights campaigners said. 

The Burundian and Congolese governments did not respond to the allegations detailed in the report, the BHRI said. 

Nearly 1,000 Burundian soldiers left the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday as part of a phased withdrawal by a regional force after Kinshasa refused to extend its mandate.

Read: East African force begins DRC exit

The East African Community force was deployed in late 2022 but, like a UN peacekeeping effort in the DRC, has faced heavy criticism from Kinshasa for failing to stop rebel-backed violence.

Some Burundian soldiers are still present in the mineral-rich country under bilateral agreements with Kinshasa.