In July 2021, the Government of Rwanda, at the request of the Government of Mozambique, started the deployment of a 1,000-person contingent of the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to Cabo Delgado Province.

 

The southern African country was being affected by terrorism and insecurity.

 

More than two years later, the joint efforts between Rwandan troops and their Mozambican counterparts have yielded good results.

 

Kigali’s mission was to help Maputo fight the terrorists, stabilize Cabo Delgado and restore the authority of the state. The mission, by and large, has been a success in areas where Rwandan and Mozambican forces jointly operate.

 

In October 2017, armed extremists linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched an insurgency in Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique. By November 2020, the terrorists had seized the port of Mocimboa da Praia, and Vamizi Island in the Indian Ocean, beheaded more than 50 civilians and displaced thousands.

 

Mocimboa da Praia, a port city with a population of about 130,000, had become a strategic holdout for the insurgency in Cabo Delgado province. In one of the terrorists' attacks, earlier on October 5, 2017, Mocimboa da Praia was targeted and then occupied for two days. The terrorists took possession of it in 2020.

 

In March 2021, the terrorists captured Palma, a major town, murdering dozens of civilians and displacing more than a half of the town's 75,000 residents.

 

There was no state authority in six of Cabo Delgado’s 16 districts. The situation worsened every day as terrorists aimed to capture more territory in their quest to turn the Province into their caliphate.

 

The tide turned, very quickly, when the Rwanda Security Forces (RSF) were deployed.

 

In close collaboration with their Mozambican counterparts, they quickly stopped the threat caused by the terrorists and ensured state authority in areas where they were deployed.

 

Since 2021, the joint force dislodged insurgents from their strongholds, allowing civilians to return to their homes, and also collaborated with SADC's SAMIM force to pursue terrorists in other sectors.

 

Rwanda’s mission in Cabo Delgado was primarily focused on saving innocent civilians.

 

In September 2022, a year after their deployment, the Rwandans had secured Palma and Mocimboa da Praia Districts – the Rwandan security forces’ area of responsibility – which were the terrorists’ strongholds.

 

Up to December 2022, the Rwandan contingent had been fully funded by the Government of Rwanda until the support of the European Peace Facility, in the form of €20 million to contribute to the deployment of the Rwanda Defence Force in Cabo Delgado Province was announced.

 

The EU support announced on December 1, 2022, was to ensure that Rwandan troops working alongside Mozambican forces continue to have the equipment and logistics required to fight armed terrorists in Cabo Delgado, restore peace and security, enable the safe return of displaced residents to their homes.

 

After the defeat of the terrorists, more than 300, 000 internally displaced persons returned to their villages to resume their normal lives. The joint Rwandan and Mozambican security forces continue to ensure that the terrorists do not return to disturb the peace.

 

They regularly conduct medical outreach programmes deep into rural areas where people need health care services.

 

In Palma and Mocimboa da Praia, songs of praise to the Rwandans are sung every day.

 

Rwanda remains a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado province – and on the continent – but there are detractors whose only aim is to tarnish the country’s image.

 

The detractors don’t care about the thousands of people whose lives were saved by the Rwanda-Mozambique security partnership.

 

For them, Rwanda's intervention is all about economic rewards.

 

"The Rwandan president has deployed troops in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado since 2021 to fight jihadists; in that time, a host of companies linked to Crystal Ventures, the private holding company owned by his party, have settled in Mozambique. They are betting on the development of TotalEnergies’ mega gas project in Afungi," wrote Romain Gras, in an article published by The Africa Report, on May 15, 2023.

 

In Mozambique, Gras noted, “the military support provided by Paul Kagame to Maputo in the fight against jihadist movements has opened the country’s doors to Rwandan interests, particularly in the mining sector.”

 

What Gras and others like him know but never want to tell the world is that Rwanda, driven by the lessons learned during and after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and the spirit of African solidarity, broadened its army’s capabilities and committed to help other African nations fight terrorism and insurgency through bilateral or multilateral missions.

 

Fact: The international community betrayed Rwanda in the run-up to the 1994 genocide. UN betrayal continued after the genocide.

 

"For Rwanda, however, security and the need to fight against terror and those who would perpetrate genocide is no longer only an issue for their borders," wrote Michael Rubin, on an Op-Ed “Rwanda Has Become Africa’s Counter-terrorism Powerhouse,” in July 2021.

 

Rather than continue to ignore or even bash Rwanda, Rubin noted, it is time for "the West to recognize that a prosperous Africa needs more Rwandas."