MOZAMBIQUE: War with IS-linked rebels 80% addressed - Kagame says

Paul Kagame: 80% of security problems in Cabo Delgado/Mozambique have been addressed, but remaining 20% need to be cleared. Club Mozambique

The battle against an Islamic State-linked insurgency in Mozambique is mostly won, according to Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President who has deployed his own country’s soldiers there since 2021.

« Largely, the problem has been addressed, » he told reporters in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
« Maybe 80% of the problem has been addressed. »

Rwandan troops and soldiers from Southern African Development Community nations have been fighting rebels in northern Mozambique who killed hundreds of people in an insurgency and delayed tens of billions of dollars worth of natural gas investments crucial for the African nation’s economy.

A raid more than two years ago by militants on the town of Palma that’s closest to the $20 billion gas-export project that TotalEnergies SE was building led the company to declare force majeure — a legal halt due to circumstances outside of the developers control — and it’s yet to formally resume construction.

Improvement in the security situation has led to growing expectations that it will soon restart.

« I have heard even those who were making investments there like Total and others are already thinking of resuming their activities, » Kagame said. « Of course there may be one thing here or another there that needs to be put out of the way before they fully resume, but I think that is being enabled by such a collaborative efforts around the provision of security. »

Watch below the joint press conference of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema.