Regional
Rwanda security forces need no lectures from armchair “experts.”
On Friday 9th 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 8th, 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.