International
Kagame’s visit to Mozambique: A new dawn for Africa
On Saturday,
September 24, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, concluded his two-day visit to
Mozambique, not a customary visit to the country’s capital, Maputo, but in the northern town of
Pemba, capital of the now ‘famous’ Cabo Delgado Province.
His host,
President Filipe Nyusi, thanked him for being with Mozambicans, which was, he
said, an evidence of deep solidarity with the people of Mozambique.
The visit is symbolic,
and certainly, a new dawn for Africa.And it happened on the day Mozambicans
celebrated their Army Day, and 57 years of the beginning of a liberation
struggle against colonial rule.
It was the first
time in Mozambique’s history that marking Army Day in Mozambique was done in
Cabo Delgado, a Province which Nyusi called the cradle of the heroic struggle
of the Mozambican people against foreign domination.
As recent as June 2021, parts of Cabo Delgado were no-go areas controlled by extremist terrorists where terror reined and hundreds of thousands of people were driven out of their homes by these terrorists.
Pemba itself was
a ghost town.
When news first
broke out that terrorists were overrunning Cabo Delgado, driving out the state
apparatus and consolidating a reign of terror on the population, very few
people in the world gave it the attention it deserved.
Others looked at
it as a short-lived episode that will come to pass after a few days. Then the
sustained violence against the population drove people out of their homes,
leaving behind cities in ruins.
As the
terrorists consolidated their grip on the region, tangible action against them was
seen as a receding mirage. The need to
ideologically remove all the geographical boundaries and embrace the notion
that we all share a common identity, as Africans, and being our brothers’
keepers can best explain Rwanda’s decision to intervene in Mozambique.
Through
bilateral agreements, Rwanda and Mozambique agreed to wage a war against the
insurgents, defeat them and restore law and order in Cabo Delgado. The
timeline for this mission was literally open-ended and therefore not
time-specific but rather mission-specific. Failure was not one of the
objectives on the table.
In about two
months, what was believed to be an undertaking that would take several month,
or possibly years, had essentially been achieved. The terrorists were dislodged
and citizens are now making their way back to their communities from Internally
Displaced Persons’ camps.
Is the mission
over? No; said President Kagame during his distinctive visit in Cabo Delgado
that certainly represents a new dawn in the African continent. He was
accompanied by his Mozambican counterpart President Filipe Nyusi.
Kagame’s visit to
the now pacified Cabo Delgado, has not only challenged the stereotyping of
African leadership by foreigners but has defied the long time African
perception that solutions to our problems can only come from the West or
elsewhere but our continent.
For Rwandans, it
was a unique beautiful day. We already know and have seen our President in
military outfit. We just love to see him in those outfits not for any other
reasons but the very obvious ones.
The first one,
it reignites our memories of the liberation struggle when Kagame as the
commander of the liberation forces, successfully liberated Rwanda and put an
end to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Secondly, it
amplifies our hope and resilience as a people because, seeing him in the
outfit, reminds us of his true charisma and great abilities. It was the
first time President Kagame visited Rwandan troops serving in other countries.
And to spice it all, together with his counterpart, President Nyusi, as
Commanders in Chief, it sent a loud and clear message of what African leaders
can achieve through cooperation.
In his address to Rwandan and Mozambican forces, Kagame appreciated the way they carried out the tasks of their mission and congratulated them for their swiftness in liberating Cabo Delgado from terrorists and restoring order.
Kagame also made
a key statement in his address as he reminded the troops that the real work had
just started, that of protecting the region against any other form of
insurgencies but also to help rebuild Cabo Delgado to what it used to be.
What the Rwandan
and Mozambican forces have been able to do in Mozambique is a good indication
of what Africans can achieve through cooperation. Finding African
solutions to African problems is not just a slogan. It is a reality that
demands one simple instrument - political will and a sound vision for the
common good of humanity.
African
countries have got a path to follow. The Rwanda and Mozambique partnership is an
important reference.