The Belgian government's partiality on the conflict in eastern DR Congo and an anti-Rwanda campaign have reopened historical wounds in Rwanda that had partially healed since Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's official apology in 2000, a former Belgian senator has said.
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In a long post on X on Monday, March 17, Alain Destexhe spoke after Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called Rwanda's decision to cut diplomatic ties with his country "disproportionate."
Rwanda's decision was after "careful consideration of several factors, all linked with Belgium's pitiful attempts to sustain its neo-colonial delusions," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation explained on Monday.
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Destexhe said the Belgian Foreign Minister has been leading an aggressive campaign on behalf of the Belgian government to influence the position of the European Union and international organizations in a direction that is hostile to Rwanda.
"Belgium should have stayed out of regional conflicts and maintained strict neutrality," he said of the European country's alignment with the Congolese government allegations that Rwanda supported the AFC/M23 rebels, who have captured two major cities in the east.
"Never before had Belgium adopted such an offensive stance on any issue since 1994."
The Rwandan government said, "Belgium has clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilise 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,"
Destexhe reminded that Belgium, a former colonial ruler of Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi, not only introduced ethnic classification on Rwandan identity cards but created racialized categories, instrumentalizing artificial divisions and establishing a system of systematic discrimination that poisoned relations between Rwandans for decades.
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"Should we remind them that Belgium's abrupt policy shift in 1959 triggered the first 'ethnic cleansing' of the Tutsi, causing thousands of deaths and forcing tens of thousands into exile in neighboring countries--a still vivid memory, as many adult Rwandans today personally experienced this exile and the harsh reality of refugee camps?" he noted.
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The former Belgian senator said that in 1994, Belgium had early warning signs of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
However, he said, the European country did nothing to prevent it, nor did it even alert the international community to its imminence.
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"The Belgian government of the time campaigned fiercely for the complete withdrawal of UNAMIR (the UN mission in Rwanda), thereby removing the last barrier against the génocidaires," he recalled.
Certain Belgian political parties maintained ties with the genocidal government, even after the genocide, and continued to promote a biased and revisionist interpretation of events, he said.
"That the current government ignores or pretends to ignore these facts is not only incomprehensible but profoundly irresponsible," Destexhe said.
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He noted that the Belgian Parliament unanimously passed, on February 23, a resolution of unprecedented hostility toward Rwanda, calling for the suspension of all economic agreements and aid, and asserting that Rwanda represents a "threat to regional stability."
"This text reflects a glaring lack of understanding of the situation on the ground -- in Kivu, where I was just three days ago -- and throughout the region. It also contains factually incorrect and unnecessarily hostile claims. Does the Belgian government and Parliament believe they can insult, threaten, and pressure without provoking a response?" he posed.
