"No Rwandan troops in Mozambique capital controlling demonstrations" - Rwandan government

KIGALI, Rwanda

The spokesperson for the Government of Rwanda, Yolande Makolo, said this Sunday that the Rwandan armed forces do not have troops in Maputo, in the operations that attempt to control the post-election demonstrations, contradicting several messages that have been circulating for several days.

Yolande Makolo

” There are no Rwandan troops in Maputo. Rwandan Security Forces are deployed strictly in Cabo Delgado province, in joint operations with Mozambican forces against extremist Islamist fighters that have been terrorizing residents in the province.”, wrote Yolande Makolo, on her official account on the social network X, in a response to a message from another user.

“This is a lie”, she also declared, in response to the same message, about the rumours circulating in Maputo about the mobilization of Rwandan forces and armoured vehicles to the capital, in view of the demonstrations that continue to take place, contesting the election results.

A force of more than 2,000 Rwandan soldiers, which began to be reinforced last April, has been fighting terrorist groups that have been operating for seven years in the province of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, since 2021, notably protecting the area where the French company TotalEnergies has a project to exploit natural gas, following an agreement between the two governments.

Maputo on Sunday recorded the first day without riots, after three consecutive days of demonstrations, mainly by supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, and interventions by the police, who always resorted to firing tear gas to disperse them.

The Mozambican capital thus experienced the first day of some normality since Wednesday, after consecutive days of streets and avenues being blocked with garbage containers, burning tires and stone-throwing by protesters, which were stopped by the authorities.

In the suburbs, all markets are operating with high demand, even abnormal for a Sunday.

Venâncio Mondlane called for a general strike and demonstrations for a week in Mozambique, starting on October 31, and marches in Maputo on November 7.

The presidential candidate called this the third stage of the challenge to the results of the general elections of October 9, which follows the protests held on October 21, 24 and 25, which led to clashes with the police, resulting in at least 10 deaths, dozens of injuries and 500 arrests, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a Mozambican non-governmental organization that monitors electoral processes.

On October 24, the National Elections Commission (CNE) announced the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975), in the election for President of the Republic of October 9, with 70.67% of the votes.

Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos, extra-parliamentary), came in second place, with 20.32%, but has said he did not recognize these CNE results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.