Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (R) and Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, in Brussels this Tuesday
KIGALI — Rwanda and Belgium have agreed to restore diplomatic relations, 18 months after Kigali cut ties over disagreements linked to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The two countries announced the decision on Tuesday, September 22, in a joint statement signed by Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe and Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot.
The decision will lead to the reopening of the two countries’ embassies.
The missions will initially operate with small teams led by chargé d’affaires ad interim, according to the statement.
The two countries will later exchange requests for ambassadorial approval, known as agrément.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Belgium will also be accredited to the European Union.
The restoration marks a significant shift in relations between Kigali and Brussels.
Rwanda severed diplomatic relations with Belgium on March 17, 2025. All projects and institutions including an international school, were subsequently closed.
At the time, Kigali accused Belgium of taking sides in the conflict in eastern Congo and of mobilising against Rwanda internationally.
Belgium rejected the allegations and called Rwanda’s decision disproportionate. Brussels responded by expelling Rwandan diplomats and ending bilateral government cooperation agreements.
The dispute came as fighting involving the AFC-M23 rebel movement and DR Congo government was intensifying in eastern Congo.
The European Union imposed sanctions on several Rwandan military officials and members of M23 on the same day Rwanda announced the diplomatic break. Belgium had supported the EU measures.
Qatar helped reopen the channel
The path back to diplomatic relations began with contacts between the two foreign ministers.
Rwanda and Belgium said their ministers held a series of meetings and informal contacts over recent months.
They credited Qatar with facilitating their first meeting in Doha in June 2025.
Belgian Foreign Minister Prévot later confirmed that Qatar had helped bring the two ministers together in Doha. He said the meeting allowed both sides to explain their positions and disagreements in what he described as a constructive atmosphere.
Qatar had already emerged as an important mediator in the wider Great Lakes crisis.
In June 2025, Qatar hosted diplomatic efforts involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The process contributed to the wider negotiations that culminated in the Rwanda-DRC peace agreement signed in Washington on June 27, 2025.
A reset without abandoning differences
The new agreement does not mean Rwanda and Belgium have resolved all their disagreements.
The joint statement explicitly acknowledges that differences and divergent positions remain.
Instead, the two governments agreed to use dialogue to manage those differences.
They committed themselves to non-interference, mutual respect and constructive engagement.
They also agreed to maintain an “open, candid and transparent dialogue.”
That language is significant because the diplomatic rupture was itself partly a dispute over how each country interpreted the other’s position on the conflict in eastern Congo.
In June 2026, Prévot reiterated Belgium’s position that Belgium supported implementation of the Washington agreement, including the neutralisation of the Rwandan FDLR militia.
The restoration of diplomatic relations therefore does not amount to an agreement on the underlying regional conflict.
It reopens the diplomatic channels through which those disagreements can be managed.
Embassies to reopen
Belgium’s embassy in Kigali has been closed since Rwanda broke diplomatic relations in March 2025.
Belgian consular services were subsequently transferred to its embassy in Nairobi.
Under Tuesday’s agreement, the diplomatic missions will first reopen with limited staffing.
Each will be headed by a chargé d’affaires ad interim, supported by a diplomat or consular officer and a small technical team.
Ambassadors will be appointed later, after the two governments complete the agrément process.
The arrangement also means Rwanda’s ambassador to Belgium will serve as its representative to the European Union.
The restoration could therefore have significance beyond the bilateral relationship.
Belgium is an EU member and has been one of the more vocal European governments on the conflict in eastern Congo.
The return of formal diplomatic channels gives Kigali and Brussels a direct mechanism for discussing both bilateral issues and their differing positions on regional affairs.
For now, however, the agreement is deliberately modest.
It restores diplomatic relations first.
The more difficult disagreements that caused the rupture remain on the table.
