Dialogue with terrorists only possible if government knows who they are

Kigali, 18 May (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said on Friday that, if the terrorism plaguing the northern province of Cabo Delgado had a face, and if its mentors declared their real motivations, then his government would have embarked on a dialogue with them.

This was Nyusi’s response when asked about the problem of security in Africa, and in Mozambique in particular, at a time when Cabo Delgado continues to record terrorist raids, which compromise development of the province’s huge natural gas reserves.

He was speaking in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, at a presidential panel discussing African leadership as a key to the success of the continent. His fellow panelists were Kenyan President William Ruto, and the host president. Paul Kagame.

Nyusi drew a distinction between known enemies and unknown ones. The former rebel movement Renamo had been a known enemy, and he had found it possible to negotiate with its then leader, the late Afonso Dhlakama. But that was not the case with islamist terrorists in Cabo Delgado.

“If it were a known enemy, our main weapon would be dialogue”, said Nyusi. “I personally travelled into the bush to meet an enemy and hold a dialogue with him, because I knew who he was and what he wanted. We reached an understanding”.

Nyusi’s visit to Dhlakama’s bush headquarters in the central district of Gorongosa paved the way for the peace agreement between the government and Renamo, signed in 2019.

Speaking to an audience including executives of oil and gas companies, banks and other multinational corporations, Nyusi said he saw no alternative but to fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

The terrorist raids, he added, had reached their peak in 2021, when the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, led by the French company TotalEnergies, was interrupted for reasons of security.

Nyusi claimed that the Mozambican defence and security forces, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community’s Military Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), “managed to bring the situation under control in a short time”.

“Terrorism is a phenomenon that cannot be fought against in an isolated manner”, he said. “It requires joint, collective and integrated efforts”.

Nyusi added that, thanks to joint work in the region, the situation in Mozambique is better than that of some other African countries where natural resources are also being exploited.

He believed that security for a country, in the broad sense of the term, begins with guaranteeing basic services, such as food security, and access to water, energy, education and health. Alongside this, goes the defence of sovereignty and the physical integrity of the population in the face of all manner of threats.

Nyusi guaranteed that, despite terrorism in the north of the country, investment is continuing to flow into all areas of activity, including electricity, agriculture, infrastructures and transport.

He admitted that, in addition to wars, there are other, neglected risks on the continent, which have a negative impact. “Often we neglect to solve basic problems that bring risks”, Nyusi said. “It is a risk to have children who are not studying, it is a risk to have children who are not fed, but this happens when we delay some activities”.

Nonetheless, he believed that “in security terms, the environment in Mozambique is stable so that we can produce”.

Asked whether the United States or China are friends of Mozambique, Nyusi made it clear that Mozambique has no preference, and gives primacy to partners who allow mutual gains.

“Our friends, our partners are those who satisfy the interests of Mozambicans”, he declared.

(AIM)

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