Rwandan and Mozambican security forces did "a very good job” in purging terrorists from three key regions of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost Province, where they operate together, according to locals and officials there.
ALSO READ: Cabo Delgado: Over 250,000 people return home, sea, air ports re-open
Now that peace has returned, at least in the areas where Rwandan and Mozambican security forces combined effort to restore state authority, all that the population wants, among others, is to settle down, grow crops and feed themselves again.
"Tunashukuru” (Swahili for, we are thankful) is a word you hear so often when talking to people in Mocimboa da Praia and Palma Districts about the joint operations the Rwanda Security Forces (RSF) and their Mozambican counterparts launched in July 2021 to fight the Islamic State-linked terrorists.
Rwandan security forces were deployed to the Province in 2021, at the request of the government of Mozambique, to help fight the Islamic State-linked terrorists who had killed hundreds of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
Up to 250,000 people have returned to their homes in Mocimboa da Praia, Palma and Ancuabe Districts where the RSF operates. Economic activity resumed in the coastal towns, and rural areas, and there is hope, as people there look to the future.
Hamadi Marquez, a fisherman in Quionga, a town in Palma District, who had fled to neighbouring Tanzania, returned home and carried on with his life, despite the challenges.
"Here, our lives depend on two main activities, fishing and farming,” he said on Monday, December 18.
"Although we haven’t been able to sell more fish like we used to sell before the war, at least we can go fishing without any fear of being attacked by terrorists. We are very thankful to the Rwandan soldiers who restored peace. I wish the peace we have today lasted longer,” Marquez said.
Rwandan and Mozambican forces began joint operations in July 2021. Within a month, the Ansar al Sunnah wal Jama’a terrorists had been dislodged from their strongholds in Mocimboa da Praia and Palma Districts.
In late 2022, Rwandan and Mozambican forces pursued the terrorists further south in Ancuabe District. A mission from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) also operates in other insurgent-hit areas.
ALSO READ: Rwanda, Mozambique step up fight against terrorism – President Nyusi
At night, Rwandan and Mozambican forces go on joint patrols in the towns where businesses including bars, and barbershops, are open after 9PM.
They’ve done a very good job
"There&039;s stability in terms of security, where people move freely without any conditions,” Cabo Delgado Governor Valige Tauabo said at a news briefing on Sunday, December 17, in Palma.
"This is what the province, the country and the world need because Cabo Delgado is shared by people from all over the world.”
On the joint operations by Rwanda Security Forces and the Mozambican army in Cabo Delgado, Governor Tauabo said "they have done a very good job."
"We are very happy for the collaboration which they [RSF] have with our national troops - the good relation.”
ALSO READ: Cabo Delgado: What Rwandan and Mozambican forces are doing after securing two districts
Asked about what the Mozambican authorities and Rwandan Security Forces are doing to ensure peace is sustained, Tauabo said: "Everything has to be sustainable. To sustain the confidence of the people for this moment where we are seeing stability is very important.
"But this is not easy,” he acknowledged, adding: "This is not an issue you can solve now or tomorrow.”
"It will take time. But the time it will take, and considering that we are taking steps, people will continue to be confident of it."
"So many people have died,” Asuadi told The New Times on Monday, as she waited in line to get her share of maize and cassava seeds donated by a Mozambican private company.
"Now that peace has returned, we wish to go to the fields, grow crops and be able to feed ourselves again,” she said.