Diplomats are booted as DRC conflict goes on

Rwanda has expelled all Belgian diplomats and has given them 48 hours to leave the country.  

Belgium has retaliated by expelling Rwandan diplomats from Brussels. The government of President Paul Kagame has accused Brussels of attempting to “sustain its neo-colonial delusions“.   

Belgium hosts the largest Rwandan diaspora in the world —most work in the informal sector. They rely on their embassy for a number of services including registration of births and the renewal of visas and passports. 

The expulsion of diplomats and cancelling of embassy and consular services is going to have a detrimental effect on them. 

Likewise, there are several Belgian companies and many professionals operating in Rwanda who are also going to be negatively impacted by these developments.  

Spats between Belgium and Rwanda are nothing new.  

Rwanda, a former Belgian colony, continues to berate the country about its past atrocities and blames it for the genocide in 1994. This resulted in the deaths of more than 800 000 people. Most of them were Tutsis, a Bantu language-speaking group spread across the eastern part of Africa.  

The history of Belgium’s colonisation of the Congo and neighbouring countries was characterised by brutality. When King Philippe of Belgium visited the region in 2022, he expressed regret for the “paternalism, discrimination and racism” of the colonial regime. 

He also reaffirmed his “deepest regrets for the wounds of the past” but stopped short of apologising. 

Belgium was responsible for the drafting of the haphazard map of the Great Lakes region. Traditional tribal foes were lumped together and forced to live with each other. This culminated in political havoc, instability and toxic tribalism. 

The inability of the governments of the day to manage multi-ethnic societies by ensuring equitable access to natural resources, rule of law and political inclusion created a situation ripe for conflict. 

The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has remained the epicentre of instability in the region since independence in 1960. 

The majority of the people in eastern DRC are Tutsis who have strong ties with other Tutsi groups across the border. Tutsis have long seen themselves as victims of the haphazard drafting of borders.  

Although conflicts have tended to be intrastate in the beginning, due to strong cross-border dimensions and transnational ethnic identities, they have often spread to destabilise the whole region. 

Since assuming office in 1994, Kagame has regarded himself as a sort of saviour of the Tutsis in the region. A case in point is his support of the DRC’s March 2023 rebel group, also known as M23.  

Notwithstanding his efforts in encouraging national cohesion by promoting Rwandan national identity and making it a crime for Rwandans to describe themselves based on ethnicity, he embraces a different posture outside the borders of the country. In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kagame banned people from sharing their ethnic identity.  

The Congolese Tutsi communities, the Banyamulenge, who live mainly in South Kivu, and the Banyarwanda, who live in North Kivu, fought along with Rwanda during that country’s civil war from 1990 to 1994. 

Many Hutus fled Rwanda after the genocide and most settled in the eastern part of the DRC. They included members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).  

Many members of the FDLR were part of Interahamwe, the Hutu paramilitary organisation that led the 1994 Rwandan genocide. 

There has been a push by Rwanda to repatriate FDLR members to Rwanda to face justice. 

Importantly, Rwanda would like to destroy the FDLR as it continues to present an existential threat to the country. FDLR members have resisted being repatriated, fearing reprisals and imprisonment. 

The M23, a group made up primarily of Tutsis, has been battling the FDLR and the DRC forces for the better part of its existence. 

Kagame has been accused of arming and supporting the M23. Peace talks between M23, the government of the DRC and other stakeholders were due to take place in Angola on 18 March. However, the M23 pulled out unexpectedly on 17 March. 

The group has accused certain international institutions of sabotaging peace efforts and making the long-awaited talks impossible. 

Interestingly, M23’s decision to pull out of the negotiations happened almost at the same time as the announcement of the expulsion of the Belgian diplomats from Rwanda were made.  

The DRC has become an example of the new scramble for African resources. China, EU countries, South Africa and the US have business interests there. These countries present opportunities and challenges for the people of the DRC. 

South Africa has been involved in the DRC for over 30 years. It has contributed troops to the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1999 and lent support to the SADC mission deployed to the region in 2023. 

Notwithstanding this, South African business interests in the DRC have been growing. 

Last year, South African imports from the DRC were mainly iron products and steel. In 2023 R26.6 billion of South African goods went to DRC, compared to R23.6 billion in 2022. South African exports were machinery (R11.1 billion), iron products and steel (R3 billion), chemicals (R2.6 billion) and plastics and rubber (R1.8 billion).  

The EU and the DRC continue to strengthen economic ties. In October 2023, the EU and the DRC signed a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials value chains. 

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic vehicles (EV’s) has increased the rush for the DRC’s mineral resources. 

Materials essential for the production of smartphones, semiconductors, computer chips and other technology essential in the AI and EV industries are found in abundance in the DRC. Among them are cobalt, coltan and lithium. 

The US and EU countries are keen on securing supplies of these vital resources and have used various methods, including political interference, to secure business from the DRC. Recently, the government offered the US exclusive rights to its critical minerals.  

In conclusion, the expulsion of the Belgian diplomats comes at a critical time in the geopolitics of the region. 

The EU recently imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s top military brass, prompting a reaction from the country. The US expelled South Africa’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool a few days ago. Some question whether these events are related, perhaps part of the US’s Southern African strategic plan. 

While the US is doubling down on South Africa, its political ties and strategic partnerships with Rwanda seem to be strengthening.  

According to a retired South African general, M23 rebels fighting the Congolese army in eastern Congo are using advanced weapons and equipment similar to that used by the Israeli army and US special forces. 

Rwanda and South Africa have had serious tensions over the past couple of months after the killing of South Africa peacekeeping forces in the eastern DRC. 

At the same time, South Africa seems set to strengthen political ties and economic cooperation with the EU, after its president Ursula von der Leyen visited Cape Town recently.  

Thembisa Fakude is a senior research fellow at Africa Asia Dialogues and director at the Mail & Guardian.