The Belgian Embassy in Kigali. Rwanda asked Belgian diplomats to leave within 48hrs.
Belgium has responded to the decision by the Government of Rwanda to sever diplomatic ties with it, reciprocating with the same decisions Rwanda took, summoning and expelling diplomats, but the action happened a little too late.
Diplomatic sources confirmed Rwanda had already recalled her serving diplomats in Brussels, ahead of the decision to sever ties with Belgium, in what appears to be a diplomatic gaffe by the European country, going by the response of Maxime Prevot, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation of Belgium
“Belgium regrets the decision of Rwanda to cut off diplomatic relations with Belgium and to declare Belgium’s diplomats persona non grata. This is disproportionate and shows that when we disagree with Rwanda they prefer not to engage in dialogue,” Prevot wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Belgium will take similar measures: the convocation of the Rwandan chargé d’affaires a.i., declaring Rwanda’s diplomats persona non grata and denouncing our governmental cooperation agreements,” he added, seemingly not aware that Rwandan diplomats had already left the country.
Rwanda said it would ask Belgian diplomats to leave within 48hrs, in a statement issued by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on Monday, March 17.
“The Government of Rwanda today notified the Government of Belgium of its decision to sever diplomatic relations, effective immediately. Rwanda’s decision has been taken after careful consideration of several factors, all linked with Belgium’s pitiful attempts to sustain its neocolonial delusions,” the statement reads.
“Belgium has consistently undermined Rwanda, both well before and during the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in which Belgium has a deep and violent historical role, especially in acting against Rwanda,” it added.
Rwanda further said that Belgium has clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilize against Rwanda in different forums, using lies and manipulation to secure an unjustified hostile opinion of Rwanda, in an attempt to destabilize both Rwanda and the region.
The development comes less than 48hrs after President Paul Kagame issued a stern warning to Belgium for its role in destabilizing the region and mobilising other countries and blocs against Rwanda. The Head of State said that Belgium, the former colonial master of Rwanda and the DRC, has a role in what has happened in the region since colonial times.
President Kagame said Belgians did not only destroy Rwanda, but they also played a role in dividing the region, including sowing ethnic divisions, which resulted into the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and continue to pedal their influence in the region, through different neocolonial practices.
“Belgians destroyed Rwanda, killed Rwandans and this history goes beyond just the past 30 years. They say, ‘We do not allow you to do this or that,’ and we ask them, ‘But who are you? Who put you in charge of us? With the limited means we have, we will stand up to them,” President Kagame said.
President Kagame said that Belgium has been behind efforts to rally other countries to punish Rwanda over the conflict in DRC, in which it has always had a hand.
“Beyond Belgium’s destructive historical role in fueling the ethnic extremism that resulted in entrenched discrimination and persecution, and ultimately the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, it has also allowed Belgian territory to be used by groups that propagate genocide denial and sustain genocidal ideology,” the Rwandan Government said.
Rwanda said that the decision to sever ties with Belgium reflects the country’s commitment to safeguarding its national interests and the dignity of Rwandans, as well as upholding the principles of sovereignty, peace, and mutual respect,”
“All Belgian diplomats in Rwanda are required to leave the country within 48 hours. In compliance with the Vienna Convention, Rwanda will assure the protection of the premises, property, and archives of the Belgian diplomatic mission in Kigali,” Rwanda said.
Chronology of events
In a detailed chronology of events, dating back many decades ago, Rwanda highlighted some of the consequences the country has suffered under Belgian colonial rule, including ethnic divisions, genocide and loss of life at the hands of the former colonial master.
“Rwanda had never experienced massacres between its inhabitants before the German, and then Belgian colonization, which following the Berlin Conference from November 1884 to February 1885, led to the signing of the General Act for the Partition of Africa among Western powers. Rwanda was assigned to the German zone. Then, Germany, England, and Belgium agreed to reduce Rwanda’s borders, annexing Rwandan territories to the Belgian Congo and Uganda.
Belgian colonialists in Rwanda used eye colour and nose length to differentiate and divide Rwandans.
In 1924, then in 1946, the League of Nations and the United Nations officially assigned Belgium a trusteeship over Rwanda with obligations to “promote the political, economic, and social progress of the populations, ensure equal treatment in these areas, develop their education towards self-governance or independence, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of race, sex, language, or religion.”Belgium established in Rwanda a divisionism-based political system contrary to these legal provisions.
In 1916, Germany was defeated militarily by Belgium over the control of Rwanda. From 1917, Belgium initiated a deep reform of Rwanda’s customary institutions.
The changes introduced labor legislation including severe corporal punishments (whipping, beating,…), the categorization of Rwandans into different identity groups, the dismissal of Hutu and Twa chiefs and sub-chiefs, the introduction of identity cards with ethnic designation, the deposition of King Musinga, forcibly sent to the Belgian Congo where he died (his body has never been recovered to this day), the enthronement of his son Rudahigwa and his eventual poisoning in July 1959 when he began demanding the Rwanda’s independence, the creation of a racist party PARMEHUTU and its rise to power through an organized massacre targeting the Tutsi from November 2, 1959.
To establish PARMEHUTU in power, Belgium deployed Colonel Guy Logiest to Rwanda with the status of Special Military Resident, and granted him full administrative powers.
Once assured that this party monopolized the political scene, Belgium granted Rwanda independence in July 1962, which brought neither peace nor stability. The country had experienced four years (1959-1962) of unpunished massacres, including that of more than 2,000 Tutsi in Byumba Prefecture in March 1962.
Belgians emphasized ethnic differences.
In December 1963, a real genocide targeting the Tutsi of Rwanda was organized with Belgium’s support. Some diplomats, missionaries, international cooperation staff, the French, Belgian, and British press, as well as the Vatican, described these killings as genocide through different publications.
Among them, “Real Genocide in Rwanda” published by Tribune de Lausanne, February 12, 1964, “Are We Complicit in Genocide?” published by Pourquoi Pas, February 7, 1964, “‘Genocide’ Charge in Rwanda – U.N. Plans to Assist Refugees”, published by The Times, February 3, 1964, “Rwanda Policy of Genocide Alleged” (The Times, February 16, 1964) and “Batutsi: Are They Victims of Genocide?”, published by The Washington Post, Times Herald, February 16, 1964), among others.
On February 7, 1964, the Belgian government acknowledged the “liquidation of the Tutsi” and was concerned that its soldiers present in Rwanda, often at massacre sites, risked being accused of “participation in genocide.” The Rwandan army, exclusively Hutu, created by Belgium and carrying out these massacres, was supervised by Belgian military officers under the command of Major Turpin.
In 1973, with the rise of General Juvenal Habyarimana to power, Belgian cooperation intensified despite the hardening of this regime on important human rights issues, including the critical problem of Rwandan refugees excluded from returning to their country.
In October 1990, Belgium sent a contingent of 500 soldiers in support of the Rwandan regime, alongside France and Zaire. In 1993, after the signing of the Arusha Peace Accords, Belgium contributed 450 troops to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).
From January to April 1994, Belgium, through its intelligence service within UNAMIR and its embassy in Kigali, possessed key information on the preparations for the genocide. Belgian political parties continued to display their support for the MRND between 1990 and 1994. This support continued in refugee camps in Zaire and in Belgium after the genocide.
On April 7, 1994, Belgium decided not only to withdraw its troops, thus paralyzing UNAMIR, but also conducted a very active diplomatic campaign, similar to the one it is conducting today in 2025 against Rwanda, aiming for the total withdrawal of the Mission.
On April 11, Belgian troops abandoned more than 2,000 refugees at ETO Kicukiro, who were slaughtered by government soldiers and Interahamwe militiamen. Under Belgian pressure, on April 21, the Security Council decided to withdraw UNAMIR, leaving a symbolic military presence of 270 men in Rwanda.
In 1997, a Belgian Senate Commission acknowledged Belgium’s responsibility in abandoning civilians. On April 7, 2000, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt issued a public apology on behalf of the Belgian state during the genocide commemoration in Kigali. Rwanda believed in Belgium’s goodwill and initiated cooperation in several fields, while remaining aware of Belgium’s ties with the former Rwandan regime.
Resolution 2150 (2014) adopted by the UN Security Council on April 16, 2014, instructs Member States : “to learn lessons from the genocide perpetrated in 1994 against the Tutsi in Rwanda”; “Unequivocally condemns any denial of this genocide and calls on Member States to establish educational programs to engrave in the minds of future generations the lessons of the genocide, with the aim of preventing others in the future”; “Requests states to investigate, arrest, prosecute, or extradite, in execution of their international obligations in this matter, all other fugitives accused of genocide who reside on their territory, including the leaders of the FDLR.”
Rwanda says Belgium does not respect this resolution. It is currently the main European state financing denialist networks with public budgetary support. Belgium has tried some genocide suspects, however it continues to pursue an unacceptable policy of hostility against Rwanda, a clear partiality and adherence to the propaganda of the DRC Government, and deliberate indifference to the genocidal project of the FDLR, a terrorist group threatening peace and security in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region.
