Rwanda’s President Kagame arrived Maputo, capital of Mozambique Friday for a two-day state.
The visit comes less than three months after Rwanda’s deployment of a 1000- strong contingent, made up of the army and the police, that recently launched offensive attacks against insurgents in Cabo Delgado province, north east Mozambique.
Under a bilateral arrangement, Rwanda sent troops to Mozambique. Botswana followed with a contingent of 296 and South Africa deployed 1,500 soldiers.
In spite of initial disapproval to the deployment by some members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), both Presidents Nyusi and Kagame have defended the move.
They said it was a required counteraction against the rising threat of terrorism and insecurity after the insurgents backed by the Islamic State (IS) group took control of most of the five districts in Cabo Delgado since 2017.
President Kagame said Rwanda is footing the deployment bill for now, and the troops will stay on to train the Mozambican army.
He added that the nature of the threat is regional given that the insurgents not only included Mozambicans, but also Somalis, Tanzanians, Yemenis, Ugandans, Kenyans, Congolese and Rwandans.
Rwanda’s Defence Force Army Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Mubarakh Muganga, commended the troops deployed in Cabo Delgado for “the good work done since their arrival in Mozambique”.