“Rumbling about European aid for Rwandan troops in Mozambique”, écrit La Libre Belgique in the title of one of his articles. Monday, November 18, the European Union renewed the aid granted to Rwanda as part of its mission in northern Mozambique, i.e. an envelope of 20 million euros within the framework of the European Peace Facility (EFF) . Since July 2021, Rwandan soldiers have been deployed in the Cabo Delgado region, which is fighting against jihadist groups.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, underlined the decisive importance of the Rwandan presence for securing the area and reaffirmed the EU’s support for “African solutions to African problems”. But the Brussels daily suggests that this decision was obtained after “long months of negotiations [et] asides in the corridors”.
Belgian diplomacy was keen to insist on the fact that Brussels had officially abstained, even issuing a press release. “If Belgium abstained, it is because this European funding, motivated by the fight against terrorism, will directly benefit the Rwandan army, present in the north of Mozambique, where it secures, among other things, the investments of the French company TotalEnergies”, explain The evening.
“Aid diversion”
For the Belgian daily, this is a way of denouncing the presence of the Rwandan army in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, “in violation of [son] territorial integrity and [sa] sovereignty”. UN reports regularly document the military support provided by Rwanda to the M23 rebels.
“Belgium therefore insists that European aid remains exclusively devoted to the fight against terrorism in Mozambique and not be diverted for other purposes and in other areas of operations.”
La Libre Belgique specifies that relations between Kigali and Brussels are frosty to say the least “since a series of trip-ups”. Administrative skirmishes have hampered the appointments of ambassadors, and Rwanda has notably “blocks the candidacy of a Belgian diplomat for the post of EU special representative in the Great Lakes region”. Conversely, “the resigning Belgian government therefore seems determined to avoid any tension with the Congolese authorities, always received in Brussels with deference, despite the death sentence of a Belgian, Jean-Jacques Wondo, in the case of an attempted coup Surrealist state led by a band of ragged adventurers in May”.
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