Mozambique

Rwanda has sent a 1 000-strong force to the southern African nation of Mozambique to help it combat an escalating Islamic State-linked insurgency. The fighting took place between 24 and 28 July in the regions of Mbau and Awase.

The three-month mission for South Africa’s force, effective from July 15 to October 15, is part of a deal agreed last month by the 16 nations of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC). South Africa becomes the latest regional country to contribute troops to Mozambique after Botswana. Earlier this month, Rwanda sent in 1,000 forces.

Botswana sent 296 troops to Mozambique Monday to join soldiers from other Southern African Development Community, or SADC, countries.

[…] The “request for the intervention of SADC in Cabo Delgado has been formally finalized,” Mozambique’s Defense Minister Jaime Neto told AFP via telephone.

Rwanda deployed a joint force of army and police to Mozambique's troubled northern province of Cabo Delgado to help fight "Islamic State"-linked militants. Not everyone is happy about Kigali's move.

The Council today adopted a decision setting up an EU military training mission in Mozambique (EUTM Mozambique). The aim of the mission is to train and support the Mozambican armed forces in protecting the civilian population and restoring safety and security in the Cabo Delgado province. … The mandate of the mission will initially last two years.

The European Union has created an air bridge to Pemba, capital of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, to deliver life saving aid to victims of islamist terrorism.

Earlier this year, the United States-led ‘war on terror’ gained another African front line. In March, the USA added a Mozambican group known as Ansar al-Sunnah to its list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, under the name ‘ISIS-Mozambique’. Portugal, the USA and others are already preparing to offer Mozambique help with counter-insurgency. If recent experience in the Sahel region is anything to go by, this will include military support, including arms transfers. But is boosting Mozambique’s armed forces the best approach?