{"id":110659,"date":"2025-02-19T12:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/rwandas-foreign-minister-slams-belgium-over-suspension-of-bilateral-cooperation\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:03:51","slug":"rwandas-foreign-minister-slams-belgium-over-suspension-of-bilateral-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/rwandas-foreign-minister-slams-belgium-over-suspension-of-bilateral-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda\u2019s Foreign Minister Slams Belgium Over Suspension of Bilateral Cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19\u2014<\/strong> Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has strongly criticized Belgium\u2019s call for a \u201cprofessional suspension\u201d of bilateral cooperation, dismissing it as a \u201cneocolonial narrative\u201d and an act of \u201chypocrisy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His remarks come after Rwanda suspended its development cooperation with Belgium, accusing Brussels of leading efforts to block Kigali\u2019s access to international development financing.<\/p>\n<p>Nduhungirehe was responding to a statement by Belgium\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Pr\u00e9vot, who said Belgium had been reviewing the partnership due to Rwanda\u2019s alleged violation of the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s (DRC) territorial integrity. Pr\u00e9vot insisted that Belgium\u2019s move was meant to safeguard past development gains for the benefit of Rwandans.<\/p>\n<p>But Nduhungirehe dismissed this, asserting that Rwanda is fully capable of managing its own development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst, it\u2019s not the Kingdom of Belgium that takes care of the well-being of the Rwandan people, but the Government of Rwanda itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He accused Belgium of hypocrisy, alleging that while it claims to act in Rwanda\u2019s best interests, it has simultaneously pressured Rwanda\u2019s international partners to cut development aid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Belgium was working for the \u2018benefit of the Rwandan people,\u2019 it would not be running around the world putting pressure on all our partners to end the development cooperation intended for that very \u2018Rwandan people,\u2019\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Nduhungirehe also accused Belgium of ignoring security threats against Rwanda, including what he described as President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi\u2019s support for the FDLR, a rebel group linked to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen President Tshisekedi supported and armed the FDLR genocidal force, which he embedded in his own army, Belgium saw it but did nothing,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n<p>He further alleged that Belgium remained silent despite Tshisekedi\u2019s military investments in attack drones and fighter jets, as well as the persecution of Congolese Tutsi communities in North Kivu, Banyamulenge in South Kivu, and Hema in Ituri.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the FARDC and its criminal militias persecute and kill, in broad daylight, the Congolese Tutsi in North Kivu, the Banyamulenge in South Kivu, and the Hema in Ituri, Belgium is informed to the fullest but chooses to look the other way,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19\u2014 Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has strongly criticized Belgium\u2019s call for a \u201cprofessional suspension\u201d of bilateral cooperation, dismissing it as a \u201cneocolonial narrative\u201d and an act of \u201chypocrisy.\u201d His remarks come after Rwanda suspended its development cooperation with Belgium, accusing Brussels of leading efforts to block [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}