Deputy Prime Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita visited Brussels on March 18 as part of a broader European defence diplomacy tour, meeting with Belgian military leaders and Congolese officer trainees to advance the FARDC’s transformation agenda.
DRC Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita visited the Royal Military Academy (RMA) of Belgium in Brussels on Wednesday, March 18, as part of a working mission aimed at deepening bilateral military cooperation and drawing lessons from one of Europe’s most established officer training institutions.
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The visit was framed explicitly around President Félix Tshisekedi’s directive to strengthen the FARDC’s operational capacities through what the Ministry of Defence has branded the FEC triptyque Formation, Équipement, Casernement (Training, Equipment, Barracks). In recent months, Kabombo Muadiamvita has pursued this agenda through a series of international engagements, including a February 2026 mission to Brazzaville that produced a bilateral military cooperation agreement with the Republic of Congo, and an earlier visit to Spain’s military facilities at Valladolid and the Royal Naval Academy in Vigo.
At the RMA, Belgium’s only military university, founded in 1834 and responsible for training officers across the country’s land, air, naval, and medical components, the minister toured training facilities, met with senior Belgian military officials, and was received with full protocol. Images released by the DRC Ministry of National Defence show Kabombo Muadiamvita alongside Belgian military leadership, including a senior Belgian officer identified as General De Potter, in formal group photographs inside the Academy’s historic buildings and courtyard.
He also met individually with Congolese officer cadets currently undertaking training at the institution, calling on them to uphold discipline, pursue excellence, and embody patriotism in their service. The exchange with trainees visibly wearing DRC national insignia on military uniforms underscored the existing training pipeline between the two countries, which the minister’s visit aims to expand and formalise.
Belgium holds a particular significance in Congo’s military history. The two countries share institutional links dating to the colonial era, and the Belgian military has periodically trained Congolese officers since independence. The DRC’s current push to reinvigorate those ties comes in the context of the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, where the FARDC has faced significant battlefield setbacks against the AFC/M23 coalition. Building a more professional, better-equipped officer corps has become an urgent priority for Kinshasa as it seeks to regain strategic credibility on the eastern front.
The Ministry of Defence described the Brussels visit as “an important step in strengthening military cooperation between the DRC and Belgium,” with further consultations between the two countries’ general staffs expected to follow.
