Mozambican families started to return to their homes and communities a few days after a joint force of Rwandan and Mozambique forces captured a strategic port city of Mocimboa da Praia from the notorious Islamic State-linked terrorist group. The New Times reporter, James Karuhanga, who has, for the past two weeks, been on-ground says that there is growing optimism that life will soon return to normal, with both forces now tasked to clear enemy pockets in the area. The capture of Mocimboa da Praia, has been described as a noble act by both Rwanda and Mozambique’s armed forces, particularly by Valige Taliabo, Cabo Delgado’s governor, during his visit to the area last week. The official commended Rwanda’s response to the four-year insurgency in just a period of one month, citing that before their arrival, Mozambican troops had not succeeded in stemming the insurgents’ offensives. Lead commanders of the joint force have recently dismissed concerns of contemplating a return, highlighting that it is essential to sustain the gains while restoring stability to the province. But how did we get to this point and more interestingly, and what is being done to consolidate the gains? To seek for clarity on this and more regarding the mission, The New Times’ Jade Iriza Natacha, sat down with the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) spokesperson Col. Ronald Rwivanga, who has been following the daily operations in Mozambique, for the past month. Excerpts; Approximately one month after Rwandan troops were deployed to Mozambique, what are the latest updates on the mission? Our mission started mid-July when we deployed in Cabo Delgado in the northern province of Mozambique. We were tasked to conduct combat operations, security operations, stabilisation and security sector reform. So far, what we have done in that mission is to conduct combat operations, we conducted these operations in two major districts namely Palma and Mocimboa da Praia. We began from two axes, starting from the north which is Palma, we moved to Afungi which is the northernmost city, and also a hub to the Total Liquefied Natural Gas plant. After securing that area, we moved south on the axis from Palma, down to Zambia, Quelimane, Maputo and then Mute, then finally the forces captured the city of Mocimboa de Praia. On the axis in the centre, we moved from Mueda to Diaca, Awasse, to a city called Ntotwe, which is about 30km to the city of Mocimboa de Praia, then they linked up with others to capture the city. You have talked mainly about the past operations, but what is being done on ground now? That is what we have done so far, and these are all combat-related operations, but we are now continuing to clear enemy pockets along the same area, as part of the efforts to dislodge the enemy from different suspected locations. The next step will be to consolidate these gains by establishing state authority, especially following the governor’s visit to the city. And so state systems will start to operate, hopefully we shall ensure that this is sustained, in the long run, and we shall go on to stabilise and then continue to perform our role of security sector reform. What would be the assessment of this one-month operation? It has pretty much been a success, because we conducted operations, successively through all these cities and the enemy has been on the run throughout. So I can say that it’s been a success, actually pretty much a success throughout. Previously, Rwanda deployed military and police officers to foreign missions separately. Why was this not the same approach with Cabo Delgado, why are you operating jointly? National police forces have specialties that they are very good at, we have a very good anti-terror group, there are also very good in law enforcement, and this is one of the tasks that will be carried out along with our forces, it’s one of our constitutional roles, and police also has that role. They have capabilities that we also have in that area, so we didn’t see any reason why we shouldn’t deploy with them. Women have played a key role in Rwandas peacekeeping contingents, how are women involved in this particular mission? It is the same case, everywhere we deploy. Women have trained with us, in all the training courses, they have capabilities that the men have, so they are deployed wherever our forces are deployed. You have seen ladies have their own sections, in units on cadet course, so we have women commanders, and we also have ladies in different specialties. With the arrival of SADC forces, how do you intend on working with them in operations in Cabo Delgado? According to the arrangement, each of the forces deployed in Mozambique have designated sectors of responsibility. SADC currently is the southern districts of Pemba, they will go to Muenda, basically the districts that are in the southern part. In the same way, we will be focusing on Palma, and Mocimboa de Prai as the major districts of our attention. So we have designated sectors of responsibility, we work with them. To defeat the insurgents requires us to work hand in hand with the Mozambican forces as well as SADC. We also share intelligence, cooperate on sectors of responsibility, hand over to specific leads, so that we can successfully engage the enemy from different fronts. It is therefore important to work in concert with these different forces. There is a possibility that the insurgents might adopt guerrilla warfare and use dense forests along the border, is Rwanda ready to stay on, for the long haul? Yeah, why not. We have forests here, we operate in forests every other day, so we are ready for that. That is part of what we are trying to do. Will this not delay the operations? Yes and no. It depends on how well we perform our role and so far we have used a month to dislodge them from their stronghold, so long is a relative term. What is your take on critics of Rwanda’s involvement in this war, despite the move resulting from a request by the Mozambican government? What we can say to people who criticize such an action is that there is a noble purpose behind what we are doing. And that is to protect civilians. Rwanda signed the 2015 protocol, in which we pledged to participate either through bilateral, or UN arrangements, to protect civilians wherever we are called upon to do so. And this is something we are very serious about, and therefore those who criticize such an action do not probably understand the importance. We have a history of being left alone during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, by many players, we are not going repeat that same mistake. Hence, we are ready to pursue that noble cause, even with criticism. What could you say is the agenda’s next plan based on your mission? Going forward, we continue what we pledged to do. We will continue the task that we were given until we complete it. Additional reporting by Edwin Ashimwe
