By Arthur Bizimana and Martin Leku
At the furniture market in the Jabe district, in the urban commune of Mukaza, within the town hall of Bujumbura, the economic capital, planks of wood can be seen seemingly abandoned.
At first glance, they appear old, discarded, and of no economic value. However, the reality is quite the opposite: this is high-value wood smuggled from South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Jean Marie Biraronderwa, a retailer of Congolese wood planks, tells our reporter, “They are not old. When they are worked on, they regain their luster.”
The Congo Basin, home to the largest section of the Congo Basin Forest—the world’s second-largest tropical forest after the Amazon and a vital carbon sink—has endured persistent illegal logging for decades. Illegally harvested timber is sold domestically, smuggled across borders, and exported to distant markets, including Asia. Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, is one of the locations where this timber ends up.
Two species of Congolese wood are particularly popular in Bujumbura, Biraronderwa explains. “We sell two types of planks from Congolese wood: ‘Ribuyo,’ widely known as redwood, and ‘Muvula,’ known as white wood,” he says.
Muvula is scientifically known as Milicia excelsa, while redwood belongs to the Sequoioideae family and is commonly referred to as mahogany.
In Jabe market, muvula wood is abundant. However, if one prefers redwood, it can be ordered from a place known as the Asian Quarter, also in Bujumbura, Biraronderwa explains. In this market, the wood is traded by both Indian and Burundian merchants. “You won’t miss a thing here,” he assures.
From his years of experience in the wood business, Biraronderwa observes that customers prefer muvula to redwood because of its durability. “Muvula is very strong. That’s why redwood is even disappearing from the market,” he explains.
Highlighting the value of this wood, Biraronderwa says that furniture made from Congolese wood is considered a luxury. “You don’t find it in just any living room. It’s found in the homes of high-ranking executives and the wealthy.”
Professor André Nduwimana, of University of Burundi says Burundians have turned to ‘Congo pink wood’, because Burundi no longer has any. “They have disappeared. Even the relics that exist are in protected areas. It is strictly forbidden to cut them. They are quality woods and people know it,” he said in an interview.
Reinforcing arguments made by traders, Nduwimana also says whether in Burundi, any other African country or even in Europe, Congo’s hardwood is loved because of its hardness. “Their furniture is heavy and lasts more than 60 years,” he argues.
Further, he points out the significant price differences. While a single plank of either muvula or redwood costs around BIF 700,000 (roughly USD 235), a first-quality eucalyptus plank costs only BIF 50,000 (about USD 17).
While Biraronderwa enjoys trading wood, he has little to say about how it enters Burundi. “It comes from the outskirts of Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB), about 200 km from Bujumbura, and is smuggled through Lake Tanganyika,” he says.
Libuyu wood planks strewn across the floor of the carpentry workshop at the Jabe furniture market/ photo taken in February 2025 by Arthur Bizimana.
Emery Nkezabahizi—not her real name—a former ship driver at the port of Baraka, recalls that they frequently transported significant quantities of Congolese wood planks.
Every year, hundreds of tonnes of redwood cross the Congolese border, our source says. The timber is harvested from logging areas in Kalonge, Kamakombe, Bisiru, Kabulungu, Bugore, and the Lwama-Kivu protected areas of Ngandja, as well as the Itombwe Nature Reserve (RNI).
The wood is transported through Mushimbaki port on Lake Tanganyika at Baraka, in the Fizi territory, via the port of Kalundu, the town of Uvira, and the island of Ubwari.
Murhula Mugisho, a well-known transporter of wood and charcoal in the region, explains, “I receive orders from private individuals to transport wood. I often take wood from Cibinda to designated locations such as Uvira, Bukavu, and Baraka.”
The timber is then taken to the port of Rumonge in Burundi. They are loaded onto trucks and transported to Bujumbura, Burundi’s economic capital.
Distancing himself from the smuggling networks, Mugisho insists that other transporters handle the timber once it crosses the borders.
However, Vivien Luamana, a handler at Mushimbaki port, reveals that nearly all raw tree trunks, stripped only of their branches, are sometimes hidden among other goods. “To evade government inspections, the boards are loaded among agricultural products and other merchandise,” he explains.
Security officers facilitate the smuggling, Luamana adds. “Without them, you can’t do anything.” However, he clarifies that not all officers are corrupt. “Every day, we check which officer is on duty so that we know how to proceed. Some accept bribes, while others do not.”
As in the DRC, the trade in precious wood is enabled by customs officials who accept bribes. At Mushimbaki port—on the DRC side—such officials are always available to facilitate smuggling.
Other tricks include mislabeling valuable planks as ordinary wood. “Dealers ‘leave something for the customs officers,’” Luamana says, using a euphemism for bribery to smooth the smuggling process.
Anaclet Nzirikwa, a Burundian consultant in forestry legislation and governance, warns that the uncontrolled timber market circumvents the tax system, harming both the industry and the state. “In this way, traders enrich themselves at the expense of the state,” he says. Nzirikwa emphasizes that the timber industry must be properly regulated.
Both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi have strict forestry laws designed to prevent illegal logging and smuggling. However, as shown, loggers frequently evade these regulations. For instance, the DRC Forest Code of 2002 prohibits the export of untreated wood, such as logs.
Burundi’s 2016 Forestry Code states that the transportation of timber, cabinetmaking wood, service wood, energy wood, charcoal, and other forest products for commercial purposes is subject to transport authorization fees, which vary depending on the product’s nature, origin, and quantity
Destroying conserved forests
The beloved wood that ends up in Bujumbura is being logged from protected forests in DRC. “Most of the red and white woods, known as ‘rosewood,’ are harvested on the outskirts of Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB). Loggers illegally penetrate protected reserves and exploit timber,” says Raymond Buralike, a civil society member in the Miti group, Kabare territory, in South Kivu province.
Wildlife habitat, flora and fauna are being affected by the destruction of nature reserves in the Congo Basin// photo taken in February 2025 by Martin Leku.
Additionally, logging is taking place in the Kabare and Mwenga territories, specifically in the Lwama-Kivu and Ngandja protected areas, as well as in the Itombwe Nature Reserve (RNI) in South Kivu.
Kahuzi-Biega National Park in South Kivu, DRC, was granted protected area status in 1970, but it has been severely impacted by illegal logging. According to Global Forest Watch, PNKB lost 16.5 hectares of primary rainforest between 2002 and 2023.
Tree cover loss, meanwhile, increased to 58%, with a 2.7% decrease in the total area of primary rainforest during this period.
At the provincial level, South Kivu lost 264,000 hectares of its primary humid forests between 2002 and 2023. During the same period, it recorded a 36% total loss of tree cover, while its primary forest area decreased by 7.9%.
Germain Basengere, a researcher in environmental studies and global warming at the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwero (CRSN), notes that while illegal logging in the park was relatively low in the past, it has skyrocketed since 2023. “If you look at the cycle of illegal logging in PNKB and surrounding areas, there is a 5% increase every year. However, in 2023 and 2024, illegal logging surged by 50%.”
Unemployment is also fueling deforestation, some researchers argue. With limited job opportunities, young people are hired to cut trees and transport logs and planks.
“As there is no work, members of the communities near PNKB are cutting wood indiscriminately. They exploit it illegally with no restrictions,” says Buralike. However, in some cases, community members are harvesting timber on behalf of political figures who do not even compensate them for their labor.
A 2024 survey by Synergie d’Organisations de la Société Civile pour la Promotion des Droits Humains de l’Environnement (SYDHE Absl) and the Institut pour la Gouvernance et l’Éducation Électorale (IGE Asbl) revealed that more than 15,000 logs were felled in and around PNKB between 2023 and 2024.
Over the years, provincial efforts to curb logging have had little impact. The most recent initiative was a decree issued in December 2024 by South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki, aimed at combating illegal logging in PNKB and other protected areas.
“The decree includes strict sanctions. For example, for the illegal export of timber, it stipulates the seizure of boats and other penalties, which can even include imprisonment for those responsible,” he explained.
Betrayal by Congolese
During a visit to seized logs at the port of Kinshasa on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, DRC’s Minister of State for Environment and Sustainable Development, Ève Bazaiba Masudi, acknowledged the illicit trafficking of Congolese timber to neighboring countries. However, she pointed out that Congolese fraudsters themselves are deeply involved in the smuggling networks.
“The DRC government is tired of thieves. Many craftsmen don’t have proper documents,” Bazaiba stated. “When people see logs crossing the Congolese border, they blame foreign companies, forgetting that Congolese craftsmen are also responsible. We need timber, service wood, and construction wood, but we must cut trees according to proper standards.”
Little formal wood trade
The annual report from Burundi’s National Institute of Statistics shows that the value of goods imported in the categories of wood, charcoal and wooden articles in 2014, 2018 and 2021 will be BIF 4,402 million, BIF 2,262 million and BIF 3,979 million respectively, or USD 1,476,533, USD 758,727 and USD 1,334,649.
Burundi’s National Institute of Statistics shows that the timber trade moved up and down between 2015, when Burundi experienced a political crisis, and 2020, and picked up again from 2021.
This story was supported by InfoNile in partnership with Global Forest Watch