PRETORIA, South Africa
Robert McBride recently fell into the hands of Mozambican authorities for allegedly spying on terrorism-related matters in Cabo Delgado. He is none other than the head of international operations for the South African secret services.
Earlier this year, four South African spies were also caught in
Mozambican territory, leading the country’s security minister to visit Maputo
in April. This fact caused some surprise, given the ‘fraternal’ relations
between the two countries, and confirmed the tensions that the neighbours are
keen to hide.
In the opinion of Manuel de Araújo, a politician and specialist in
international relations, “the arrest of South African agents is yet another
sign that diplomatic relations between Maputo and Pretoria are not at their
best”.
For Araújo, “this is another sign among the various signs”. He cites
other examples: the non-resolution of the case of former Mozambican finance
minister Manuel Chang, detained in South Africa for more than two years without
this country taking a position on the matter; and the postponement more than
once of the Troika session of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
to decide on the involvement of SADC forces in Cabo Delgado.
Despite the recent incidents, the two neighbours deny any tension,
preferring to “settle the matter in the family”, as has been customary in the
SADC. But André Thomashausen, a German specialist in international law residing
in South Africa, devalues the “propaganda” of the neighbours and recalls that
the relationship was never perfect.
According to Thomashausen, the malaise is largely based on a
non-aggression agreement signed with Botha, during the Apartheid regime in
South Africa, in the 1980s, when Maputo handed over, in exchange, the ANC
comrades refugees in Mozambique, which displeased the ANC.
However, about the McBride case, the academic says that “this latest
misunderstanding, of a South African covert operation of putting secret agents
with devices, with drones, on a mission that no one quite understands, without
informing colleagues in Mozambique, is just another episode in the relationship
that was never easy”.
Also according to Thomashausen, this situation has to do with the
dominance of the South African economy in the economy of southern Mozambique,
in the tourism and consumption sectors, for example. “And there have been very
tragic cases of xenophobia, in which Mozambican workers were killed,” he recalls.
And in an apparent attempt to extricate himself from the “tight spot”,
Pretoria suspended Robert McBride from office. In the case of the spies
arrested at the beginning of the year, the person in charge of the
international operations of the South African secret services will have acted
outside of an operational protocol between the two countries, which establishes
that the Mozambican authorities be notified of the activities of the secret
agents from South Africa.
For Araújo, the incident shows that there is no understanding between
Pretoria and several SADC members about the origins of the conflict in Cabo
Delgado, about the involvement of foreign forces, strategy and methods of
combating terrorism.
“The arrest was surprising because we thought that among friendly
countries, which we thought, this type of situation would not be normal, South
Africa would not send spies without the knowledge of Mozambique and also, even
if Mozambique had detected a South African cell, it would trigger the
appropriate mechanisms for dismantling this cell and sending it to the country
of origin without going through arrest,” says the Mozambican analyst.
However, continues Manuel de Araújo, “when the arrest is carried out, it
shows that the diplomatic, military and security channels are somehow clogged
up and the only way there was to show discontent was detention, until the
owners commented on the elements”.
The alleged espionage incidents put Pretoria in an embarrassing
situation. But it is necessary to remember that South Africa is one of the
greatest African potentials and Mozambique depends a lot on its neighbour
economically. Could incidents affect relationships?
Manuel de Araújo says that South Africa may not show “muscle” in
relation to this action, “but certainly the attitude is not well regarded
neither in the security sector nor in the diplomatic sector in Pretoria and
beyond”.
“It should be noted that the speeches of the ministers of Defence and of
Foreign Affairs [of South Africa] have been at a pitch contrary to Mozambique’s
wishes. The [South African] defence minister recently stated, for example, that
she found it strange that Mozambique had not announced about the presence of
Rwandan forces before the arrival of the SADC contingent. This public
pronouncement is made on behalf of South Africa”, highlights Araújo.
And given the negative evolution of relations, academic Thomashausen
does not augur improvements among neighbours: “The adventure in which the new
head of foreign affairs of the SSA [State Security Agency] has undertaken to
send agents to Mozambique possibly for acts of violence or sabotage to possibly
weaken the insurgents evidently it will not improve the understanding of the
two countries,” he concludes. - DW
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