Western media propagandizing against Rwanda’s counter terrorism contribution in Mozambique

Western Media treat terrorism in Africa either by glorifying white saviourism, or by playing down lives of the populations affected by terrorism. In the process, they incite sympathy for terrorists or simply disparage African initiatives that are not parented, supervised or funded by Western superpowers.

As early as August 14, The Economist published an article, “Why Mozambique invited foreign troops to fight its jihadists”, in which the insurgents in Cabo Delgado are described alternately as vicious terrorists and poor victims, depending on whether the argument sought to advance a Western savior narrative or undermine Africans’ efforts to fight terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

The Economist recounted how in October 2017, the insurgents carrying the black flag of ISIS, launched attacks on innocent local populations that cost at least 3,200 lives, displaced 800,000 people and almost 2 million people faced food shortages due to insecurity. The representative of the World Food Programme described the situation as “a humanitarian catastrophe beyond epic proportions.”

Western media and NGO reports highlighted, often with graphic tales, the humanitarian needs and called for increased donor support for Cabo Delgado. In 2021, WHO requested $3.5 million, the OIM required $58 million, WFP urgently appealed for $121 million, UNHCR urgently appealed for $13.5 million, and UNICEF required $90 million to support their operations in favour of displaced vulnerable populations in Cabo Delgado.

When Rwanda announced the deployment of its security forces to support Mozambique, on July 9, the pro-Western media forgot about the humanitarian crisis and started to compassionately portray ISIS-Mozambique as mere “poor insurgents” and ethnic marginalized youth in a region neglected by the Mozambique government This was in spite of all the devastation and destruction caused by the Islamist militant group which has publicly pledged allegiance to the DAESH/Islamic State (ISIS).

Currently, Western media focus on giving a platform to “experts” to redefine the insurgents who have never hidden that they intended to impose Sharia in Mozambique, and they attribute to them some legitimate social grievances, in total disregard of the death toll endured by local populations in the past five years, and despite the death toll that is higher than the total number of people who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. This suggests that terrorists are abhorrent only when they target Western interests, otherwise they are some kind of tribal youth marginalised by corrupt African regimes.

The double standards were also transparent in the way Western media questioned Mozambique’s decision to invite SADC and Rwandan troops which, according to The Economist, will result in internationalizing a “locally rooted conflict”. In other words, both the problem and the solution to the insurgency are internal and political, despite the presence of hundreds of foreign fighters among the Al-Shabaab insurgents whose leader, Abu Yasir Hassan, is a Tanzanian national.

Western media, while they peddle unsubstantiated speculations to redefine the insurgency in the traditional Western coverage of Africa where ethnic politics are a fact of life, and tribal conflicts are perpetual and inevitable, their misinformation also attempted to wrap up the deployment of Rwandan forces in a cloud of skepticism about Rwanda’s real motives. They also created a fog of suspicion about France’s role in the Rwanda-Mozambique security cooperation.

In that regard, Western media converted jihadists into mere marginalized poor ethnic youth whose “grievances” can be resolved by creating jobs for them, while they alleged that France funds Rwandan forces deployed primarily to ensure security for the French gas company, Total.

In essence, narratives about Cabo Delgado before and after the deployments of Rwandan troops are a good example of the “How it started vs. how it is going” trend in social media. They have a Western media spin on terrorism in Africa. These narratives that portray Africans as a people either who need white saviors or who can be turned into mercenaries for Western companies, should inspire more African media to be at the forefront of telling the story of their fight against terrorism from their own perspective.