Belgium’s infamously duplicitous Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot while meeting DRC ruler Felix Tshisekedi at State House in Kinshasa, with no shame or remorse, boldly stated that “Belgium wants to put the DRC’s military conflict back on the European agenda.”
To the naïve, this sounds like goodwill. To those who know Congo’s history, it is nothing more than Belgium re-inserting itself, in order to protect its interests at whatever cost.
Make no mistake, while Belgium was busy shouting about Ukraine, Gaza, and other global dramas, they were still quietly looting Congo in the shadows, and it is not that they have forgotten it. This new “agenda” Prevot is speaking about, is not about peace, it is about survival of their influence.
It is not wrong to state that Prevot and his paymasters in Brussels have just realized, there is a lot at stake especially after the coming of serious players like Washington and Qatar and they are coming with genuine efforts to resolve issues properly. Brussels suddenly fears being exposed and, worse still, losing its slice of the Congolese breadbasket.
And let us be blunt. Belgium is not coming to solve Congo’s military conflict. They are coming to sabotage the real processes already in motion. Washington and Doha have challenged the old narratives, showing that Kinshasa itself, propped up by lies and corruption, is the root of instability. Belgium cannot afford that truth to dominate. So it rushes back, waving the banner of “European agenda” in order to derail progress and keep Tshisekedi under its thumb.
It is a sad spectacle to watch Congolese accept this like animals in a zoo. Brussels talks, Tshisekedi nods, and the people stay silent. Everyone knows he is a puppet groomed for years, and now they tell him what to say, what to threaten, even what to deny. The tragedy is not Belgium’s arrogance, it is Congolese submission.
Belgium’s desperation is easy to read. They know that once Tshisekedi is gone, their grip slips. Their access to resources dries up. Their relevance fades. That is why they jump at every opportunity, even when sidelined by Washington and Doha. By shoving themselves into the middle, they hope to protect their old networks of plunder.
But what can Europe really add? Congo’s military conflict is not a European problem to be solved in Brussels. It is a crisis made worse by Belgium’s own fingerprints, colonial vandalism, corrupt elites, and a century of resource theft. They broke it, then pretended to be absent, all while continuing to loot unnoticed. Now that others are pushing for solutions, they rush in to protect their stake.
The truth is simple. Congo’s peace will not be scripted in Brussels. Those who sabotaged it for 100 years cannot claim to save it now.
ellenkampire