Rwanda threatens to withdraw troops from Mozambique anti-jihadist operation

KIGALI, Rwanda 

Rwanda warned on Saturday that it will withdraw its troops involved in anti-jihadist operations in northern Mozambique if sufficient funding for the mission is not assured.

It has had a force of around 1,000 soldiers and police officers in the oil-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2021 helping to fight insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State group.

"We are ready to leave Mozambique, if our work and achievements are not valued," said Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe in a statement posted on X Saturday.

He was responding to media reports that the European Peace Facility finance for peacekeeping in the region was set to run out in May with no plans for renewal.

"It's not that "Rwanda could withdraw", it's that "Rwanda WILL withdraw" its troops from Mozambique, if sustainable funding is not secured for its counter-terrorism operations in Cabo Delgado." He said.

The minister insisted that they didn't pay hundreds of millions of dollars and their RDF soldiers didn't pay the ultimate sacrifice to stabilize the region, allow IDPs to return home, children to go back to school, businesses to reopen, and mega investments in LNG to resume, just to see their valiant soldiers being constantly questioned, vilified, criticised, blamed or sanctioned by the very countries that greatly benefit from their intervention in Mozambique.

Rwanda's government spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said on Friday that its costs were at least 10 times higher than the 20 million euros spent by the European Union on anti-jihadist operations there.

The army's work "countering terrorism in Cabo Delgado has benefitted the Mozambican people and the companies investing in LNG", said government spokesperson Yolande Makolo in a post on X.

Northern Mozambique has enormous reserves of gas, which have attracted the attention of energy giants including French company TotalEnergies, Italy's ENI, and the United States’ ExxonMobil.

At the end of January, TotalEnergies relaunched construction on a massive gas project there, halted five years earlier after a jihadist attack that claimed hundreds of lives.

The liquefied natural gas project is expected to generate thousands of jobs and help make Mozambique one of the world's biggest LNG exporters.

While Cabo Delgado has not experienced another attack on the scale of the 2021 assault, there are regular attacks, including beheadings and kidnappings.

More than 6,400 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 2017, according to conflict tracker ACLED.

The violence has forced tens of thousands of people to feel their homes.