Foreign affairs minister Olivier Nduhungirehe has said that Rwanda will withdraw its troops from Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province if sustainable funding is not secured. He made the remarks in a post on X, while reacting to media reports suggesting that the European Union’s financial support for Rwandan forces deployed in northern Mozambique may expire in May without renewal. ALSO READ: Rwanda responds to reports of possible halt to EU support for troops in Mozambique Responding to the reports, Nduhungirehe said the issue was not merely that Rwanda could withdraw its forces, but that the country will pull out if predictable and sustainable funding for the counter-terrorism operations is not secured. “It’s not that ‘Rwanda could withdraw’, it’s that ‘Rwanda will withdraw’ its troops from Mozambique if sustainable funding is not secured,” he said. He said Rwandan soldiers had also made the “ultimate sacrifice” while helping stabilise the region, allowing internally displaced people to return home, children to go back to school, businesses to reopen and major investments in liquefied natural gas to resume. ALSO READ: EU announces new €20m support to Rwandan troops in Mozambique Nduhungirehe added that Rwanda would not continue the mission if its role and contributions were constantly questioned or criticised by countries that benefit from the stability brought by the intervention. “We didn’t pay hundreds of millions of dollars and our RDF soldiers didn’t pay the ultimate sacrifice to stabilise this region....just to see our valiant soldiers being constantly questioned, vilified, criticised, blamed or sanctioned by the very countries that greatly benefit from our intervention,” he said. Rwanda deployed troops to Cabo Delgado in July 2021 at the request of the government of Mozambique to help combat militants linked to the Islamic State. ALSO READS: Rwanda deploys force to Mozambique Since then, Rwanda Defence Force troops have played a key role in recapturing key towns and securing strategic infrastructure, including areas around major liquefied natural gas projects. However, despite improvements in security, the insurgency in Cabo Delgado continues to pose a threat.
