Mozambique: Russia offers ant-terrorist training – Watch

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Mozambique: Russia offers ant-terrorist training – Watch

9:58 CAT | 18 Nov 2021

Photo: TVM

Russia has expressed its willingness to train Mozambique’s defence and security forces for a better response in the fight against the terror attacks which have internally displaced over 800,000 people in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The Kremlin’s availability was expressed on Tuesday in Maputo by Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, after a meeting with Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario.

“Our anti-terrorism cooperation with Mozambique can be developed into capacity building for the Ministry of Defence as well as the Interior Ministry,” said Bogdanov, who is also Russia’s Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa.

Anti-terrorism cooperation with Mozambique, he indicated, might include other African countries in line with international law, and complying with the rules established by the United Nations.

Bogdanov also expressed his desire to see initiatives by African countries themselves to deal with terrorism. “We would be grateful to see the launch of such initiatives,” he added.

Regarding the cooperation between the two countries in the exploration of natural resources, Bogdanov stated that Russian companies are interested in the establishment of contacts with the Mozambican government.

In September 2018, a consortium consisting of the US multinational ExxonMobil, the Russian Rosnef and the Mozambican National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH) won the oil and gas concession for offshore areas near the Zambezi Delta, and close to the town of Angoche, off the coast of Nampula province.

“In future, Russian Federation companies will merely develop the already existing contacts with Mozambican entities, in order to establish a partnership of mutual benefit,” he affirmed.

Bogdanov, who also held a bilateral meeting with Mozambique’s Foreign Minister, Veronica Macamo, told reporters he was quite confident in a mutually acceptable solution, to the dispute between the Mozambican State and the VTB, which is mostly owned by the Russian government.

He was referring to the entirely illicit loans made by VTB and by Credit Suisse, totalling over two billion US dollars, to three fraudulent, security-related Mozambican companies – Proindicus, Ematum (Mozambican Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management).

The loans were only possible because of illegal loan guarantees issued by the previous government, under former President Armando Guebuza. Mozambique is fighting through courts in London to have the guarantees, and hence the loans, entirely cancelled. VTB, however, is refusing to yield an inch.

Watch the TVM report.