Mozambican Defense Minister Jaime Neto made an official request for SADC intervention in Cabo Delgado province. A new more African strategy.
Mozambique's Defense Minister Jaime Neto said last Thursday that "the request for SADC (Southern African Development Community) intervention in Cabo Delgado has been formally finalized". For Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, this is a total turnaround. Faced with the growing insurgency and terrorist threat in Cabo Delgado province, Nyusi asked everyone for help… except African countries. But Nyusi has been in Kigali since Sunday, where he spoke with Paul Kagame.
A week earlier, a Rwandan government statement apparently changed the game. After a previous meeting at the end of April between Nyusi and President Kagame, Rwanda instructed 1 troops to deploy to Cabo Delgado. This is the third military aid received by Mozambique in its war against the ADF and Daesh, after those of Portugal and the United States.
This new paradigm of the war that is brewing in the region of northern Mozambique implies two results. First, Kagame did not hesitate to provoke friction with Portugal, the alleged spearhead of the EUBG offensive in Mozambique. Second, this first African support brought Nyusi back to the continental ranks. It must be said that the Mozambican president had ended up becoming reluctant about a possible Western intervention.
Will SADC answer the call?
Indeed, the EUBG had to plan its intervention since 2020. However, President Filipe Nyusi refused to grant permission for the deployment of European troops, after US diplomacy deemed the ADF rebels to be part of the state. Islamic. Nyusi accepted a first deployment of Portuguese and American military instructors, but stopped there.
The UN mission in the DRC published a report, denouncing an American amalgam between Daesh and the ADF, the latter being the most dangerous terrorist group according to Nyusi. What create the first tensions between him and the West. From now on, he is turning more to Africa. He accepted, last Monday, the arrival of Rwandan soldiers. Then, on July 22, its Minister of Defense addressed official correspondence to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), requesting military support from member states.
However, South African mercenaries have already been on the ground for years. They are also accused of war crimes and of worsening the situation in Cabo Delgado. Would Mozambique's appeal to SADC therefore be the last solution for the country?
Europe seems in any case now out of the game. Kagame's soldiers will de facto take the position of Portuguese instructors. And if SADC agrees to military aid in Mozambique, EUBG will have mobilized thousands of troops for nothing. However, the European Union does not intend to repatriate its soldiers immediately. Currently stationed in Italy, and if we believe the resolutions of the last NATO summit in Brussels, these soldiers will probably be redirected to another part of Africa, the Sahel.
President #Kagame, #Mozambique President Filipe #Nyusi discuss #terrorism fight.
Africa-to-Africa
... #GalaxyDefenders#TheLastManStanding https://t.co/DLvypo4sxA via @NewTimesRwanda- Albert Rudatsimburwa 🇷🇼 (@albcontact) May 1, 2021