US to help Mozambique tackle terrorism in gas-rich region

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

US to help Mozambique tackle terrorism in gas-rich region

8:16 CAT | 04 Dec 2020

Photo: Twitter / @StateDeptCT

The United States on Thursday vowed to help Mozambique tackle the insurgency being waged by an Islamist group in the gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado province following a visit by its top anti-terrorism official.

The State Department counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales, made the pledge after talks with President Filipe Nyusi in Maputo.

“The United States is keenly interested in partnering with Mozambique,” and in “deepening our friendship while we jointly confront the challenge of terrorism,” he said in a statement.

Sales who is also US Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, stressed the need for international cooperation to curb the three-year conflict that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and displaced half-a-million people.

Sales, is the most senior US government official to visit Mozambique this year following his two-day trip that ended Thursday.

In a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Verónica Macamo, AMB Sales stressed the importance of the U.S.-Mozambique partnership and discussed shared efforts to counter terrorism. https://t.co/uFhCKPRap5 pic.twitter.com/emfqtpvQJ9

— State Dept CT Bureau (@StateDeptCT) December 3, 2020

Militants of the Islamist group locally known as al-Shabab have this year accelerated their campaign to create a caliphate in the gas-rich region.

Their attacks have increasingly been claimed by the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), affiliated with the Islamic State group.

The US ambassador to Mozambique Dennis Hearne expressed Washington’s commitment to help Maputo in developing civil society and private sector organisations “to promote stability and strengthen the resilience of Mozambican communities affected by violent extremism and terrorism”.

Sales will be in Pretoria on Friday for talks with South African officials.

South Africa, the regional powerhouse and neighbour of Mozambique, currently chairs the rotating presidence of the African Union (AU).

Last week President Cyril Ramaphosa and leaders from other southern African countries held urgent security talks and agreed on a “regional response” to the unrest amid fears the extremist violence could spread through the region.

Meantime the US embassy in Maputo has committed $42 million to humanitarian and socio-economic development projects in Cabo Delgado as part of Washington’s $500 million in annual assistance to Mozambique.

AMB Sales met with Mozambique President Felipe Nyusi in Maputo today to discuss ways the U.S. and Mozambique can work together to strengthen security in the country. https://t.co/D1zwNRSsXN pic.twitter.com/jbL9BZQ7Wf

— State Dept CT Bureau (@StateDeptCT) December 2, 2020