Fight on terrorism in Mozambique debated at the Europe-Africa summit – DW

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Fight on terrorism in Mozambique debated at the Europe-Africa summit – DW

12:31 CAT | 17 Feb 2022

File photo: DW

President Filipe Nyusi is back in Brussels, this time for the EU-Africa summit, to discuss “in depth” the sustainability of the fight which Mozambique and international forces are waging against terrorism.

The Mozambican president left for Brussels yesterday, for the second consecutive week, this time for the European Union-Africa summit, another “opportunity” to “give a face” to the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

“It would have been easier for me to ask a colleague [from the government] to represent me, since I was there recently, and even for the sake of managing my time and effort. But it is necessary to be there,” he underlined in a press conference before taking off from the Mavalane air base in Maputo.

Last week, Nyusi had bilateral meetings with European leaders, while the summit this Thursday and Friday is a multilateral forum – but nonetheless “this opportunity, we cannot miss”, he said.

“We are on the poster in this issue of the fight against terrorism. So, as actors on the poster, we need to show our face, be there and use the space to tell our friends and partners what Mozambique is doing to deserve the solidarity that we have received,” Filipe Nyusi said.

More funding

Last week, after a three-day visit, the Mozambican head of state appealed to the EU to fund the military forces of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) supporting the Mozambican armed forces in the fight against the insurgency.

“We don’t have anything to give, although there is a lot of effort. We don’t lack the will. If we can be part of the joint group that mobilises support, we will do that,” both with the EU and “other partners”, he said on that occasion.

This time, President Nyusi returns with the purpose of “discussing, in depth, the sustainability of the struggle” that Mozambique and international forces are waging “against terrorism”.

“It cannot be a struggle with limitations, nor can it always count on our friends,” said Nyusi, outlining the needs: “the villages are destroyed and need to be rebuilt” and the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) “need to be reformed”. In this context, dialogue with the EU is justified, Nyusi stressed, because the European partners “are also lead actors in the fight against terrorism”.

Read: Mozambique: Nyusi calls on EU to finance joint forces of Rwanda, SADC in Cabo Delgado

In addition to peace and security, Nyusi hopes to discuss with European countries ways of mitigating the impacts of climate change, and develop projects that make it possible in the long term to deal with extreme climate phenomena such as floods and droughts, instead of always focusing on emergency interventions.

The management of water resources is one of the areas the president highlighted, with the focus on controlling flooding through dikes and dams, then taking advantage of this potentially stored water to break the cycle of droughts in the south of the country.

PALOP countries represented at the highest level

Leaders of the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) meet between today and Friday in Brussels, at the VI EU-Africa summit, which aims to revitalise a partnership threatened by the Russian and Chinese presence on the African continent.

The summit, originally scheduled for 2020, can finally now take place, given the evolution of the Covid-19 situation, which allows the presence in Brussels of around seven dozen heads of state and government from both continents. The initiative takes place in the midst of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

Heads of state and/or government of most member states of both organisations are expected in Brussels, with the exception of the four countries currently suspended by the AU due to coups d’état (Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan and Guinea-Conakry) and, inevitably, some last-minute cancellations.

Portuguese-speaking African countries will all be represented at the highest level, with, in addition to Mozambique, the heads of state of Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe and the vice president of Angola all expected.

Source: Deutsche Welle