By Antonio Tiua, BRUSSELS
Belgium
Presenting a balance of his participation in the 6th Europe-Africa Summit, after talks with Emmanuel Macron, current President of the European Union (EU) and President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said that Rwandan and SADC troops may receive financial support from the European Union and the African Union in terms of military equipment.
Last Friday, the President Nyusi
held talks with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who now holds the
rotating presidency of the European Union.
President Nyusi said, at the
end of the EU-Africa Summit, that troops fighting terrorism in Cabo
Delgado province would be able to receive financial support.
“We mobilised support – that,
at any time, can be felt – regarding our brothers from Rwanda, who are having
high operating costs, our brothers in SADC (Southern African Development
Community), through SAMMIM, and [regarding] ourselves as well. to see
if we can make this battle more sustainable and can more swiftly clarify
what is behind this problem,” Filipe Nyusi told reporters in Brussels,
evaluating his participation in the 6th African Union and European Union
Summit.
The guarantee came about ten days after the Head of State made a working visit to the European Union, where he met leaders of the regional bloc and, in the end, assumed that one of the objectives of the visit was to mobilise funding for the fight against terrorism. SADC and Rwandan troops have already appeared to appeal for international funding to maintain their operations in Cabo Delgado.Cabo Delgado
In fact, in his opening speech
at the Europe-Africa Summit, Emmanuel Macron, as the President of the EU,
appealed to the 27 members of the organization to help finance Rwanda, “an
African solution found to the problem (terrorism) that has been progressing on
the continent, with particular emphasis on southern Africa”, he said.
The French President also appealed to the United Nations to support Mozambique’s efforts. Filipe Nyusi added, in the balance sheet, that Mozambique would undertake the same diplomatic journey that it had in the European Union to other organisations, because “the costs are high”.
“We believe that it is not
just one organisation that will assume this, given the various programs that
the European Union has. We have also mentioned that, even at European level,
support can be achieved through bilateral cooperation,” Nyusi explained.
And with regard to bilateral
cooperation, the Head of State announced that the signing of a cooperation
agreement with France, negotiations for which have lasted for three years, is
imminent.
According to Filipe Nyusi, “it
is an agreement similar to the one we have with other countries, such as South
Africa, Tanzania and other European countries. In this particular case for
maritime security. This agreement is almost finalised; at any moment it will be
signed in Mozambique”.
The country’s interest is to
take advantage of the military base that France has in the island of La
RĂ©union
Filipe Nyusi and Emmanuel
Macron also discussed the investment situation of French oil major TotalEnergies
in Cabo Delgado, but the President did not provide details.
On the sidelines of the
Europe-Africa Summit, the President of the Republic also met with Macky Sall,
Head of State of Senegal and current President of the African Union.
According to Filipe Nyusi, “We
expect support from the African Union and we are working in this direction. You
know that there is also the African Standby Force that can be deployed if
needed,” he noted. However, he warned that “the important thing [of the
conversation] was some equipment that we have, like the African Union, in
Cameroon and other equipment to be acquired. So we were discussing the
possibility of us quickly deploying this equipment in the battle against
terrorism.”
Nyusi took the opportunity to
invite Macky Sall to visit Mozambique.
Mozambique participated in the
6th Europe-Africa Summit with four areas of interest, highlighting issues of
peace and security, vaccine distribution, energy transition and agriculture and
sustainable development.
Summing up the event,
Mozambique’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, VerĂ³nica Macamo, said that the talks
allowed the breaking of the idea that the exploitation in Africa of natural
resources such as coal and natural gas should be abandoned.
“We are talking about a green
transition that does not harm the interests of the continent. As we know, we
have a very large capacity for fossil energies. It is necessary, when thinking
about the transition, that the interests of African countries are taken into
account,” Minister Macamo said.
The issue of vaccine
distribution was also prominent. According to the head of Mozambican diplomacy,
the current manufacturers are already opening space for negotiations on
intellectual property rights in relation to pharmaceuticals.
“The understanding is that
intellectual property must be protected, as long as it does not serve as an
impediment to Africa being able to produce vaccines. The understanding is that,
on the part of our partners, there will be flexibility that will allow Africa
to produce Covid-19 vaccines,” she said, announcing that the parties would meet
again to discuss access to vaccination soon.
In Brussels, Mozambique also
participated in a roundtable on agriculture and rural development. Minister of
Industry and Commerce Carlos Mesquita said that Europe had opened opportunities
that could be explored by the national business community.
“In Europe, there is a lot of
demand for vegetable protein that can work very well in food and replace other
products that can bring us diseases. With this approach, it became very clear
that the ball was in our court. It is up to the Mozambicans to take advantage
of all these opportunities and this opening,” Minister Mesquita said.
The two continental blocks
also decided at the summit to create a mechanism that will become responsible
for the implementation of the Brussels consensus.
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