Rwanda cuts diplomatic ties with Belgium over DRC conflict

By Tamsin Paternoster & Mared Gwyn Jones

Rwanda has severed all diplomatic ties with Belgium, amid fraught relations between the countries over fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

All Belgian diplomats must leave Rwanda within 48 hours, the Rwandan foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The ministry added that the decision would "safeguard" its own national interests.

"Belgium has clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilise against Rwanda in different forums," it claimed.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called Rwanda's move "disproportionate", saying that his country would respond in kind.

All governmental cooperation agreements between the countries would be cancelled and Rwandan diplomats would not be welcome in Belgium, he said.

Kigali has been criticised by countries including Belgium for backing the M23 rebels, who in recent months have seized Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities in eastern DRC.

Their offensive has left scores dead and thousands displaced.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in eastern DRC, a mineral-rich area close to the border with Rwanda.

The group's fighters claim they are protecting the rights of the region's ethnic Tutsis.

However, the DRC's government has accused Rwanda of supported the rebels in a bid to control land in the area.

Belgium has also accused Kigali of undermining the DRC's territorial integrity.

As a result of the row, Rwanda announced last month that it was suspending its 2024-2029 bilateral aid programme with Belgium, claiming Brussels was sabotaging the country's access to "development finance".

At the time, Prévot said that Belgium would continue to raise awareness in pursuit of a "peaceful solution to the conflict in the east of the DRC".

The severing of the countries' diplomatic ties came on the same day that the European Union announced sanctions against nine people — including five Rwandans — in connection with violence in the DRC.

On Monday, the DRC said it would attend peace talks with the M23 group in Angola.