Belgium and Rwanda restore diplomatic relations after the March 2025 break
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said in New York that Belgium and Rwanda had restored relations, and a joint statement with Olivier Nduhungirehe confirmed it. KT Press reports the same restoration, 18 months after Kigali cut ties over the war in eastern Congo. Rwanda had cut diplomatic ties on 17 March 2025.
Geopolitics··Evening
A joint statement in New York
Maxime Prévot said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that Belgium and Rwanda had restored relations. A joint statement with Rwanda's foreign minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, confirmed it. Prévot said Belgium would continue to defend the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo. KT Press, writing from Kigali, reports that the two countries have agreed to restore diplomatic relations. The two accounts name the same ministers' outcome: relations are back, and Congo's territory remains part of what Belgium says it will defend.[1], [2]
Why the break happened
Rwanda cut diplomatic ties on 17 March 2025, accusing Belgium of lining up against Kigali over the war in eastern Congo. KT Press measures that gap as 18 months and ties the original cut to disagreements linked to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Prévot said regular dialogue would continue, including on the remaining disagreements about that war. The Brussels Times also notes that Al Jazeera reported the restoration and that the two sides thanked Qatar for hosting the ministers' first meeting in Doha in June 2025.[1], [2]
Relations restored, the Congo war left open
The restored relationship does not, on either account, settle the eastern Congo war. Prévot kept Congo's territorial integrity on Belgium's side of the statement, and he left the remaining disagreements inside the dialogue rather than declaring them finished. KT Press, 18 months after the cut, reports the agreement to restore relations and still names the eastern Congo conflict as the reason Kigali broke them. Readers in Brussels and in Kigali are being told the same diplomatic step, with the war left open. The war stays named on both pages.[1], [2]
