News reports and social media posts have been circulating online claiming that Belgium has deployed troops to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight against rebels in the region.
They allege that between 300 and 400 Belgian commandos are expected to engage the M23 rebels alongside the Congolese army and militia groups and that Belgium and the EU in general are supporting the DRC to the detriment of Rwanda.
Belgium however strongly denies the claims and has accused Rwanda of mounting a disinformation campaign, amid rising tensions between Brussels and Kigali that have led to the severing of diplomatic ties.
Rwanda has pointed the finger at Belgium for allegedly taking sides against it in the ongoing conflict in the DRC’s east, which has seen violence for more than three decades since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot said the online claims were “grotesque fake news.”
“A Belgian contingent of 6 (!) soldiers is indeed present in Kindu for the implementation of European support in non-lethal equipment to the Congolese army,” he said in a 26 March post on X. “There is therefore NO deployment to take part in any operations whatsoever, and Belgium has no intention of doing so!”
“As for the rest, everything about this tweet rings hollow, as it clearly seeks to stir up trouble and escalate tensions,” Prévot added.
His post came on the same day that he told Belgium’s parliament that the claims were made as part of a disinformation campaign brought by Rwanda and “actors sympathetic to the Rwandan cause.”
He said the campaign was designed to “undermine Belgium’s image, exacerbate tensions and legitimise a certain interventionism.”
Counterclaims later emerged online, alleging that eight Belgian troops had died fighting and that numerous military flights between Belgian and Congolese cities had taken place.
But Belgium has issued its own counterclaims: when approached by EuroVerify, the defence ministry referred back to a press release that it published in late March.
It said that around 10 Belgian soldiers are in Kindu as part of the EU’s European Peace Facility project.
“This initiative aims to strengthen the EU’s capacity to prevent conflict, consolidate and preserve peace, and enhance international security and stability,” the press release said. “The beneficiary partner of this project is the DRC, with funding of €20 million from the EU.”
“Belgium is committed to this EPF project in Kindu until December 2027 at the latest,” it continued.
Specifically, Belgium’s role in the initiative is comprised of two parts, according to the Ministry of Defence: the purchase of equipment, including engineering equipment for the 31st Brigade of Rapid Reaction Units, and infrastructure work at Camp Lwama in Kindu, which houses the same brigade.
It added that Falcon 7X aircraft have flown between Belgium and the DRC, but in the context of separate missions that have nothing to do with a new military deployment.
“It is also important to point out that a Falcon 7X has a maximum capacity of 14 people, and that any deployment of Belgian military personnel as part of an operation must be approved in advance by the government,” the defence ministry said.
This is not the first time that the Rwandan government has been accused of launching a widespread disinformation campaign to achieve its aims.
South Carolina’s Clemson University Media Forensics Hub released a study in June 2024 in which it found that President Paul Kagame’s government was using artificial intelligence to generate and spread political propaganda during the presidential campaign.
It said that hundreds of X accounts shared hundreds of thousands of posts using AI to push different propaganda narratives, most of which centred on the DRC conflict.
Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to our request for comment, while the DRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs couldn’t be reached.
Belgium and Rwanda’s crumbling relations
Rwanda cut diplomatic ties with Belgium in mid-March over the conflict in the DRC, ordering all Belgian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.
It said that doing so would protect its national interests because Belgium had “clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilise against Rwanda in different forums.”
Kigali accused Brussels of “pitiful attempts to sustain its neo-colonial delusions”, pointing at Belgium’s “deep and violent historical role” in the violence in the DRC.
Belgium responded, cancelling all governmental cooperation agreements between the two countries.
It said that it refuted the statements made by Rwanda to justify its decision.
“Belgium is not seeking to punish or weaken Rwanda, still less on the basis of a colonial past from which it distanced itself a long time ago,” the foreign affairs ministry said. “This is a complete distortion of the facts.”
Kigali has been criticised by countries including Belgium for backing the M23 rebels, who in recent months have seized Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities in eastern DRC.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups grappling for control in the mineral-rich region close to the Rwandan border.
The group’s fighters claim they are protecting the rights of the region’s ethnic Tutsis, but the DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels in a bid to control land in the area, while Belgium has accused it of undermining the DRC’s territorial integrity.
The severing of the countries’ diplomatic ties came as the EU slapped sanctions on five Rwandans linked to violence in the DRC.
