Cabo Delgado militarisation: Diversified intervention on its way; and with Rwandan troops – Carta de Moçambique

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Cabo Delgado militarisation: Diversified intervention on its way; and with Rwandan troops – Carta de Moçambique

7:25 CAT | 25 May 2021

FILE - Illustrative photo. [File photo: WeChat]

The militarisation of Cabo Delgado in the fight against terrorists has been decided although Maputo will not accept the SADC taking over the entire “package”. ‘Carta’ has learned that Filipe Nyusi prefers infantry from Rwanda. “The boots on the ground are going to be Rwandan,” a source revealed.

Nyusi was in Kigali recently, where he discussed possible form of Rwandan support with President Paul Kagame. Kagame was also in Paris, at the summit with Emmanuel Macron, although a meeting between himself and Nyusi was not officially announced.

At the Frelimo conclave over the weekend, Nyusi on two occasions made it clear that he would accept offers of foreign military personnel in Cabo Delgado. In his opening speech of the event on Saturday, the president told members of the Central Committee that terrorism “is a global phenomenon” and added that “no country should be considered immune, or should imagine that it can fight terrorism on its own”, suggesting that Mozambique had no choice but to accept the offers on the table.

On Sunday, in his closing speech, he concluded: “We must safeguard the concentration of bilateral efforts to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado”. In other words, Mozambique intends to “break down the evil village by village”, giving a specific task to each bilateral partner.

In addition to the SADC, with its specific intervention plan involving 3,000 men plus planes, helicopters and boats, Portugal is also at the forefront in terms of offers of support, as well as the USA, which has already been training Mozambican marines.

By Marcelo Mosse

Source: Carta de Moçambique