Did Belgium send troops to the Congo by plane?

There's information circulating on social media about the presence of Belgian soldiers, and even tanks (sic!), in the Congo to fight the M23 rebels, and indirectly Rwanda. Hard to believe...

A message being spread on social media is incriminating Belgium. It was heavily shared in Rwanda before being circulated thousands of times. Here is the message: "Belgium has sent 300 to 400 soldiers, tanks and drones to the east of the DRC to support the FARDC, Wazalendo and FDLR against the AFC/M23. Although this is officially a 'training', they're expected to go into action immediately. With their base in Kindu, the links between Brussels and Kinshasa will be strengthened, impacting regional diplomacy." For starters, Belgium no longer has operational battle tanks. This rumour is also linked to a very real flight of a Belgian Defence Falcon 7X with 'instructors' on board.

Explanations

There has been no deployment of Belgian troops on Congolese or Rwandan soil. To be legally covered, this would have required a public government debate. Moreover, the images generally used to fuel this false information have been taken out of context and don't correspond to current events, as they are archived photos and videos. One of the posts even originates from… Colombia! It's a rumour likely intended to fuel distrust between Belgium and Rwanda, especially since Kigali severed diplomatic relations with Brussels on 17 March 2025. What is true, however, is that there was a Belgian Defence flight to the DRC (Congo), heading to Kindu, in the centre-west of the country. It was a 14-seater Dassault Falcon 7X.

Why this flight?

It's difficult to hide tanks, drones and several hundred soldiers in a jet like the Falcon. It's much too small. It was a flight integrated into the European Union's EPF (European Peace Facility) project. It involved military personnel and peacekeeping and consolidation instructors for a focused mission scheduled until 2027, for the purchase of engineering equipment, training and works at the camp of the 31st brigade of the Congolese army. Such cooperation between Belgium and its former colonies, and even between foreign militaries, is quite common.

Sad example of 1994

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, there was also Belgian military personnel stationed there well before April 6th, notably for civil engineering operations as well as UNAMIR peacekeepers. After the deadly attack on the plane carrying the Burundian and Rwandan presidents, the situation escalated, especially since Radio Mille Collines incited killings after constructing a narrative based on rumours and stereotypes about Tutsis and colonists to motivate the 'militias' to take action and also target the Belgians present in Rwanda (10 peacekeepers were massacred). Without eclipsing Belgium's mistakes, a lot of fake news fueled hatred in 1994. Is history just an eternal recurrence?

(MH with Olivier Duquesne – Source: VRT nws – Picture: © picture alliance / Newscom | DAVID SILPA)