Rwanda security forces need no lectures from armchair “experts.”

On Friday 9^th July 2021 when the deployment to Mozambique of a 1,000-person contingent of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) was announced with the mission to help fight insurgents in Cabo Delgado, the decision was almost unanimously praised by everyone. The deployment was particularly lauded by Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi who explained, in a state of the nation address, that Rwandan forces will be in the country under the bilateral security agreement between the two countries. He said that, “Rwanda's participation - [in the restoration of peace and stability in Cabo Delgado] - is part of the principle of solidarity for a noble and common cause. It is about saving human lives, and preventing the destruction of public and private property and infrastructure."

The vote of appreciation of Mozambique’s President towards Rwanda’s deployment was echoed by the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, who commended the intervention which he described "as a strong and concrete act of African solidarity to support a fellow Member State fight terrorism and insecurity."

In simple terms, the mission of the Rwandan forces in Mozambique is “to support efforts to restore Mozambican state authority by conducting combat and security operations, as well as stabilization and security-sector reform (SSR)”. Until this deployment of Rwandan security forces, five years had passed before the people of Cabo Delgado could be rescued from the brutal armed extremists linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and before the risk of the destabilization of the region could be eliminated.

However, Africans have been accustomed to being treated as lacking agency to define and defend their interests. The despisers who make no secret of their vilification of solidarity amongst African countries always try all angles possible to delegitimize the achievements of Africans’ joint endeavours. The most trying ones at times are those who infantilize Africans.

It is in that context that the takeover on August 8^th, 2021 of Mocimboa da Praia, which according to RDF Spokesperson, “is a critical port for the insurgents’ survival”, was belittled by Ryan Cummings, an armchair “experts” who tweeted that the milestone was “the easier aspect of the war” against the insurgents, and the same narrative was pushed by Jasmine Opperman who tweeted that Rwanda is doing the easy part and “intentionally leaving the dirty hardcore battles for the SADC”, -- without specifying what battles they are referring to. Moreover, those armchair counterinsurgency “experts” like Ryan Cummings and Darren Olivier insisted on lecturing about counterinsurgency, as they expressed doubt whether Mozambican authorities understand the imperative of socioeconomic reforms to address social grievances in Cabo Delgado.

This skepticism towards Rwanda’s deployment in Mozambique came into existence the same day the intervention was made public, and it didn’t dissipate in the face of the achievements registered on the ground by joint operations against the insurgents, and resultant jubilations of grateful local populations; instead some biased narratives have obstinately sought to bastardize Rwanda’s intervention, like Jasmine Opperman who depicts it as a show of military force to “the targeted audience back home and a warning to those in the region viewed as dissenters”, or a mercenary contract merely for pay to secure a French gas project as suggested by some commentators in social media.

Regardless of what despisers say, the most important part of Rwanda’s support to Mozambique is to save lives, restore order and build security institutions which is the prerequisite for the government of Mozambique, with the help of the international community, to address socio-economic challenges facing the people of Cabo Delgado.

Those trying to give lectures about what it will take to stabilize Mozambique, they should first acknowledge that Rwandans are more accomplished than those posturing as the tried and true experts in counterinsurgency who are giving unsolicited advice. Rwanda has no need for any armchair commentators, some random failure-mongers and despisers to lecture on counterinsurgency and the stabilization of a post-conflict society, and in this case on supporting security-sector reform in Mozambique.

“Stabilisation and security reforms take time in counterinsurgencies. What we have done is to dislodge insurgents from their stronghold. A very critical step in our operational phase lines,” RDF Spokesperson Col. Ronald Rwivanga informed the media, indicating that, contrary to what belittlers assume, Rwandan security forces went in Mozambique prepared for counterinsurgency warfare, including through political actions to address the conditions that precipitated the insurgency and allowed it to grow in strength.