They were welcomed by Brig Gen F Mutembe, the Task Force Battle Group commander and received a briefing on the ongoing operations launched on 21st December 2022.

The Minister appreciated the work that has been done on the ground so far.7

Rwanda started the deployment of 1000 troops of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to Mozambique on 9th July 2021, to fight terrorist groups, honoring the request of Mozambique. The troops had increased to nearly 2000 by the end of the year 2021.

As he received oaths of new officials including the Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana and Minister of State in the same ministry, Dr. Ivan Butera towards the end of last year, President Paul Kagame said that Rwanda increased troops deployed to Mozambique in connection with their new mandate.

“We have nearly 2500 troops including soldiers and Police personnel in Mozambique, working with Mozambican forces. Even yesterday, we deployed more troops. We did it because many problems have been solved in collaboration with Mozambicans since our initial deployment,” he said.

The troops have also got a new mandate to pursue terrorists and dislodge them from their hideouts.

The situation in the country had worsened since October 2017 when armed extremists launched an insurgency in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique.

Mozambique Defence Armed Forces battled the extremists but many civilians were killed and displaced by the fighting.

Before Rwandan troops’ intervention, terrorists had killed 3000 civilians while more than 800,000 were displaced. The insecurity had also put to halt all development projects in the area controlled by insurgents.

The joint operations between Rwandan and Mozambican troops yielded big where different regions were seized from rebels.

Rwanda and Mozambique have been enjoying vibrant relations for many years.

On Monday 12th September 2022, President Paul Kagame and his counterpart of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi met in Kenya ahead of the inauguration of newly elected president, Dr. William Ruto.

Both leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the ongoing bilateral collaboration between Rwanda and Mozambique.

In February last year, Kagame received Nyusi with whom they discussed the good progress that has been made between Rwanda and Mozambique in the ongoing cooperation towards securing Cabo Delgado as well as other areas of bilateral collaboration.

Rwanda and Mozambique have cooperation agreements in different areas including security, trade and investment among others.