Mozambique: Hama advocates greater training for deputies
Russia denies it has any troops stationed in Mozambique
2:28 CAT | 09 Oct 2019
Residential and commercial buildings in Maputo, Mozambique. [File photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg]
- Mozambique has been battling Islamic State-linked insurgents
- Russia is providing military equipment to fight insurgency
Russia’s government denied it has any troops in Mozambique after reports that a Russian soldier was killed in the gas-rich southeast African country.
“There are no Russian soldiers in Mozambique,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday in Moscow.
A Russian died Oct. 6 in Mocimboa da Praia, a coastal town in the northernmost Cabo Delgado province, according to Jasmine Opperman, an expert on terrorism in Africa who has been monitoring an Islamic State-linked insurgency in Mozambique. She didn’t say where she got the information, which she posted on her Twitter account on Monday.
Mocimboa da Praia was where the attacks first started in October 2017. The insurgency in Cabo Delgado has led to hundreds of deaths over the past two years. Islamic State has claimed involvement in about a dozen clashes since June.
The government is under pressure to contain the escalating violence that could threaten about $50 billion worth of liquefied natural gas projects by energy majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA. Mozambique will hold general elections on Oct. 15.
Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Oct. 4 that Mozambique received military equipment from Russia to help battle the insurgents. The support will assist Mozambique in defending its population, the agency cited Foreign Minister Jose Pacheco as saying.
The nation’s armed forces killed 9 insurgents on Oct. 5 in an area about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Mocimboa da Praia, the defense ministry said in a statement Monday.
In August, Mozambique and Russia signed agreements on the mutual protection of classified information, as well as cooperation between the two countries’ interior ministries.
By Ilya Arkhipov, Matthew Hill and Borges Nhamire
Source: Bloomberg
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