Belgian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot, recently embarked on his first tour of the Great Lakes region. Yet, instead of being transparent about his real mission, he continues to irresponsibly drag Rwanda’s name into his statements.
After being denied access to Rwanda, Prévot turned to Uganda, seeking mediation from President Museveni to “rebuild trust” between Brussels and Kigali. What he fails to grasp is that Rwanda is no longer a small, submissive nation easily manipulated by foreign powers.
On April 26, Prévot landed in Burundi. After his meeting with Burundi’s ruler , he once again referenced Rwanda in his statements. However, he failed to bring up Burundi’s troubled history of ethnic politics and violence factors that have contributed to its ranking among the poorest nations in the world.
Even more astonishingly, Prévot wants to use eastern DRC as the centerpiece of his Great Lakes “mission.” Belgium, a country that claims to uphold international law, has consistently turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Burundian forces operating in eastern DRC including the current massacres of civilians in Minembwe alongside FDLR and Wazalendo militias.
Instead of condemning these human rights violations, Prévot shamelessly praised Burundian troops, emphasizing that they had entered the DRC “at the invitation” of Tshisekedi’s regime conveniently ignoring the grim realities on the ground.
His call for Burundi, which he inaccurately claims has “positive relations” with Rwanda, to play a role in “appeasement” in the region further reveals his deep ignorance of the dynamics at play. Was it the Belgian embassy that misinformed him so badly, or is it deliberate diplomatic malpractice?
Prévot’s visit to the Great Lakes is nothing more than sabotage. Belgium has historically benefited from the chaos in eastern DRC, and it seems little has changed. By unnecessarily mentioning Rwanda, he seeks relevance in a peace process where Belgium has long been irrelevant.
The diplomatic confusion stirred up by Maxime Prévot is not surprising. His attempts to blackmail Rwanda, while conveniently ignoring the atrocities committed by the FARDC-FDLR coalition against civilians, are indefensible, and they expose a dangerous double standard.
Maxime Prévot must hands off Rwanda. Rwanda owes him no explanations and needs no lessons from those who still benefit from Africa’s suffering.
ellenkampire