The analyst Andrew Tchie, a security specialist at the British Royal Institute of United Services (RUSI), warns that the problem of terrorism in Mozambique will not be the main priority of the European Union (EU) in Africa taking into account conflicts in other countries.
“The main threat to EU security is the Sahel because it sees the region as a migration problem and fears the increase in cross-border terrorism. Mozambique is important, but it will not be as important as Mali or Niger or Burkina Faso. He’s in the back row, ”he told the Lusa agency.
Tchie commented on the Mozambican Government’s request for support to the European Union (EU) in logistics and specialized training of its forces to stop the armed incursions of groups classified as terrorists in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
The request consists of a letter to which Lusa had access dated the 16th and which was sent to the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, by the head of Mozambican diplomacy, Verónica Macamo.
Tchie said that the Maputo initiative was the result of a recent meeting of SADC [Southern African Development Community], when the lack of means and capacity of countries in the region to intervene was discussed.
“There was pressure for the Mozambican government to open its mind and look for potential partners, such as the European Union, to help with operations,” he said.
RUSI addressed on Thursday, in a virtual seminar, the growing regional violence in the context of the political fragility of governments, economic inequality and problems arising from historical conflicts in West Africa.
In recent years, that region has seen an increase in violent extremism, increasing levels of popular dissatisfaction as a result of poor governance, the negative impact of climate change, an increase in international organized crime and changes in the type of local conflicts between communities.
Groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State (IS), Ansa Din and al-Qaida have played a leading role in terrorist violence in the Sahel, Sahara and the Great Lakes.
In Mozambique, the province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, has been the target of attacks by armed groups since October 2017, which have already killed at least 1,059 people in almost three years and 300,000 internally displaced people, in addition to destruction of various infrastructures.
The coastal province is where megaprojects for natural gas exploration are being developed.
The attacks have already been claimed by an Islamic State ‘jihadist’ group, but the real intentions remain unclear, although investigators point not only to terrorist activities, but also internal factors, including ethnic and social.
