The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation in Rwanga has issued a statement announcing its reversal of cooperation with Belgium over what was termed as leading an aggressive campaign together with the DRC, aimed at sabotaging Rwanda’s access to development finance, including in multilateral institutions.
According to the Ministry statement, Belgium is leading acts tantamount to bullying or blackmailing Rwanda into compromising national security and countering the country’s aim of a secure border and an irreversible end to the politics of violent ethnic extremism in the region.
Kigali is blaming Belgium for going counter to the call to the international community to support the mediation process mandated by the African Union and the Joint EAC-SADC Summit to resolve the crisis in Eastern DRC.
“Belgium has made a political decision to choose a side in this conflict, which is its right, but politicizing development is plainly wrong. No country in the region should have its development finance jeopardized as a tool of leverage. Punitive, one-sided measures can only be construed as unwarranted external interference that undermines the African-led mediation process, and thereby risks delaying the peaceful resolution of the conflict. Indeed, such measures have repeatedly failed to provide a solution in the past, only adding to the problems and deferring them to the future”, the statement read in bits.
According to the Foreign Ministry, these efforts demonstrate that there is no longer a sound basis for development cooperation with Belgium and, accordingly, Rwanda is suspending the remainder of the 2024-2029 bilateral aid program with Belgium.
It says Rwanda needs peace and a durable solution, and no one should continue to tolerate the cycles of conflict which continually recur because of the failure of the DRC Government and the international community, decade after decade, to fulfil their commitments to dismantle the UN-sanctioned genocidal FDLR militia, and protect minority rights.
The view of the Rwandan government, according to the statement, is that development partnerships must be based on mutual respect, and that Rwanda has made it a point to ensure maximum accountability for all the funding it receives, a fact that no partner has questioned. Maintaining mutual respect, and fully supporting the AU/EAC/SADC mediation, is essential during these difficult moments for the region.
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