Rwanda announced on Monday it is severing diplomatic ties with Belgium, saying the European nation had "consistently undermined" Kigali during the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This comes as the European Union announced sanctions against a number of senior Rwandan military commanders.
Rwanda said on Monday it was severing diplomatic relations with Belgian and expelling all their diplomats, amid fraught relations over the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Government of Rwanda notified the government of Belgium of its decision to cut diplomatic ties, effective immediately, the foreign affairs ministry wrote in their statement on Monday.
"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 statement reads.
It added that the decision reflected "Rwanda's commitment to safeguarding our national interests and the dignity of Rwandans".
All Belgian diplomats within the country will be required to leave within 48 hours, the statement added.
Fiery speech
The decision follows a fiery speech made by Rwanda's President Paul Kagame against Brussels over the weekend.
"One of the biggest problems we faced is that we were colonised by a small country like Belgium, which cut our country up so it can be small like it," he said Sunday.
"Belgium has killed us throughout history, and keeps coming back to kill us more."
In response, Belgium's foreign affairs minister Maxime Prevot said the move was "disproportionate and shows that when we disagree with Rwanda they prefer not to engage in dialogue."
Brussels will reciprocate by declaring Rwandan diplomats persona non grata, he added.
The crisis in the DRC and the African Union response
Sanctions
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on three senior Rwandan military commanders and the head of Kigali's state mining agency over the M23 offensive in DRC.
The EU's foreign affairs ministers were meeting this Monday to discuss including nine new Rwandan figures on a list of sanctioned personalities, for their role in the conflict in eastern DRC.
The three commanders lead Rwanda's special forces and two divisions accused of deploying troops in eastern DR Congo to back the armed group, according to the EU's official journal.
For several days, the EU had been discussing putting in place sanctions against Rwanda.
The United Kingdom, Canada and Germany also announced sanctions for the same reasons earlier this month.
Spiralling conflict
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group started launching its most recent massive offensive in the mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year in January, taking two major cities in North Kivu and South Kivu.
A United Nations report has said that Kigali effectively controls the group and has around 4,000 troops in the country.
Kigali has denied involvement in the conflict and says it faces a threat from ethnic Hutu fighters in the DRC.
Kigali says Kinshasa is collaborating with the FDLR, a military group they accuse of persecuting Congolese Tutsi people and Tutsi refugees from Rwanda, who were pushed to leave during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda marks 30 years since genocide that horrified the world
"Both governments claim their involvement in conflicts in the eastern part of the DRC are linked to protecting ethnic populations," according to Christopher P. Davey, visiting assistant professor at Binghamton University in New York state and a specialist in the genocide. "In reality, however, the persistent fighting is destroying economies and livelihoods," he wrote.
(with newswires)
