Kinshasa recalls ambassador to Belgium

Furious over remarks made by the foreign minister of Belgium, the former colonial power, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced on Friday that it is recalling its ambassador from Brussels.

"Insolence!" was the reason that DRC government spokesperson, Henri Mova Sakanyi, gave IRIN for the diplomatic action.

"There's no use in us keeping an ambassador in Belgium if they see us as an association or a group of criminals," Mova said on Friday, in reference to the comments made last week by Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht after visiting the region. "The minister doesn't regard the DRC to be a state."

De Gucht was reported to have said there was "no real government in the DRC". He also reportedly said he was "not very impressed" by many of the politicians he met there.

De Gucht's comments were seen as all the more insulting to the DRC as they were made while he was in Rwanda, a country that until recently had troops in eastern DRC against the wishes of the government in Kinshasa.

"It's totally false that I defend the Rwandans," De Gucht said in an interview with the Belgian newspaper, Le Soir.

Belgium is one the DRC's main donors.

"This year we are giving between 50 million and 60 million euros [US $63.1 million and $75.71 million] in financial support," Francois Delhaye, the economic adviser to Belgium's embassy in the DRC, said.

Mova said his government was now waiting for the Belgian administration to clarify whether its foreign minister "was speaking for himself or whether what he said is the point of view of the whole Belgium government".

Belgium's prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, supported De Gucht by saying they were not in contradiction with Belgium's African policy.

"The minister merely sent a strong signal to the Congolese," Delhaye said.

A spokesperson for Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IRIN that the DRC's withdraw of its ambassador was "an internal Congolese matter" and that at this stage, Belgium has no plan to reciprocate.