Rwanda has cut diplomatic ties with Belgium

Rwanda has cut diplomatic ties with former colonial master Belgium.

This came soon after the European Union imposed sanctions on three senior Rwandan military commanders and the head of Kigali’s state mining agency over the Congolese rebel movement M23’s seizure of territory and cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda is accused of backing M23 rebels.

The 27-nation regional bloc also hit the CEO of state-run Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board “for exploiting the armed conflict” and a gold refinery based in Kigali.

Rwanda said at it was cutting diplomatic ties with Belgium, which had pushed for the sanctions.Brussels hit back with tit-for-tat measures, kicking out Kigali’s diplomatic envoys.

Ruanda-Urundi, the twin territory in central East Africa, was administered by Belgium from 1922 to 1962.

Subsequently, they became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi. After World War I, in 1922, with an adjustment of frontiers, a slice of what had been formerly German East Africa came under Belgian control and, in 1924, became the mandate of Ruanda-Urundi, under League of Nations auspices.

After World War II, in 1946, the twin territory was reconstituted as a United Nations trust territory.

Throughout its history it was administered under a vice governor-general as an integral part of the Belgian Congo, but with a separate budget.

The Belgian Congo, officially the Congo Free State under King Leopold II and later the Belgian Congo, was a Belgian colony from 1908 to 1960, which then became the Republic of the Congo, later the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Zaire in between.