Peter Fabricius, a consultant at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), in South Africa, is at it again – fervently fomenting conflict, and diverting attention from the real security challenges that afflict Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique.

In his January 13 article – Failure to coordinate SADC and Rwandan military missions in Mozambique ‘could jeopardise fight against insurgents’ – he begins with a blatant lie.

Writing in the South African newspaper, the Daily Maverick, he reported that that week, Mozambique’s President, Filipe Nyusi, met separately with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali and with the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Lilongwe, Malawi, to discuss the war against the Al-Sunnah-wa-Jama’ah insurgents, who are affiliated to the Islamic State.

ISS fomenting conflict, diverting attention from Mozambique security challenges

“In Kigali, Kagame and Nyusi signed a formal cooperation agreement which included terms for the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) providing training to Mozambique forces,” he wrote.

To start with, no such meeting between Nyusi and Kagame happened that week.

He then goes on about how Rwanda and the SADC are not represented at each other’s meetings. “This has raised concerns not only about dangers to the military mission but also to human rights and transparency of governance of the efforts to restore peace to the war zone, which is mainly in Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado,” he wrote.

Here, Fabricius, a sympathizer of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) terror group, brings in Adriano Nuvunga, executive director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, to drive his agenda. The RNC is led by Rwandan fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa who lives in South Africa. There is no doubt that the duo's aim is to spoil ongoing efforts to stabilise Cabo Delgado.

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Rwanda and SADC not being represented in each others meetings is a no brainer because Maputo is on top of things, having invited Rwandan forces through a bilateral arrangement and SADC under a separate regional initiative. The objectives of Mozambique, SADC and Rwanda are complimentary and therefore, there should be no cause for alarm. Holding separate meetings does not mean that they are not coordinating.

Mid last October Mozambican and Rwandan military commanders as well as those from the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) held talks and agreed to enhance intelligence sharing in the fight against the Islamic State-linked terrorists in Cabo Delgado.

Following that meeting which was held at the Rwandan forces' base in the port city of Mocimboa da Praia, other such meetings were held in the SAMIM areas of responsibility. Fabricius and his analysts either missed that fact or intentionally ignored it to serve their spin purposes.

Worse still, the analysts Fabricius interviews on Mozambique and the security situation in Cabo Delgado are questionable.

Take the case of Nuvunga, a man used as a mouthpiece of Rwandan subversive groups in exchange for money, who insinuates that revealing the terms of the Mozambique and Rwanda bilateral agreement is an issue of concern to Mozambican people.

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Then there is Liesl Louw-Vaudran of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) who totally misses the point as regards the overall strategy of the operations to stabilise Cabo Delgado. Fact is, there is no lack of communication between the SADC and Rwanda. Bringing up the issues about the presence of Rwandan fugitives in South Africa is a calculated ploy to mislead regional and international opinion.

But let’s stick to Nuvunga and show how murky things are. Prof. Nuvunga is one of the leading civil society activists in Mozambique. He is the director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a civil society organization working on youth, leadership, democracy and development policy towards the nurturing of transformational leadership for developmental change in Mozambique.

His organization receives funding from different subversive or terror organizations and individuals in exchange for advocacy.

Previously, Nuvunga at different occasions met with RNC agents, Ben Rutabana and Frank Ntwali, as emissaries of Kayumba Nyamwasa, the leader of RNC to discuss their advocacy needs and strategy.

Sources indicate that he promised them that he would publish reports indicating that Rwanda is led by a dictatorship so that the international community acts.

Nuvunga was also contacted by terror convict Paul Rusesabagina in 2016 before joining CNRD-Ubwiyunge to form the MRCD coalition. Rusesabagina was requesting for advocacy support for the alleged human rights abuses in Rwanda. Rusesabagina went on to join MRCD with FLN as an armed wing and became its leader.  Rusesabagina later declared war against Rwanda and was responsible for the innocent civilians killed during FLN attacks.

During the arrest and trial of Rusesabagina, Nuvunga was one of the so-called rights activists who criticized the Government of Rwanda, alleging that Rusesabagina was kidnapped and did not receive a fair trial.

Nuvunga has been in close contact with Cassien Ntamuhanga, who escaped prison in Rwanda while serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring against the government.

Nuvunga advocated for Revocat Karemangingo, a Rwandan businessman killed in Maputo last September. Karemangingo was a criminal with genocide crimes in Rwanda, who was also accused of killing Louis Baziga, the former head of the Rwandan community in Mozambique.

Sources indicates that Nuvunga also received lots of money from Karemangingo and the likes in exchange for advocacy.