(Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The African Union (AU) hailed the decision by Rwanda to begin deploying a 1000-member joint force of army and police personnel to Mozambique to support efforts to restore state authority in the latter’s restive region.
AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat issued a statement on Saturday describing the decision as an “act of African solidarity”.
“I commend the Republic of Rwanda’s deployment of 1000 RDF and Rwanda National Police members, to Cabo Delgado, at the request of the government of Mozambique, as a strong and concrete act of African solidarity to support a fellow Member State fight terrorism and insecurity,” Mahamat said.
The deployment of the contingent comprised of members of Rwanda Defence Force and the Rwanda National Police to Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s gas-rich province that is under threat of the Islamic State-related armed groups and insurgents, is at the request of the government of Mozambique.
![[file] Soldiers from the Mozambican army patrol the streets / AFP PHOTO / ADRIEN BARBIER](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c6159c1bd6ac698bf11eb586c15cbc31.Mozambique-974x609-1-120x86.jpg "Jihadists kill 3 in northeastern Mozambique 4")
The joint force will work closely with Mozambique’s armed forces and forces from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in designated sectors of responsibility while the Rwandan contingent will conduct combat and security operations as well as stabilization and security sector reform.
Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province has been plagued by an Islamist insurgency since 2017. The region experienced an escalation in violence earlier this year, the worst such violence in the country since the start of the insurgency, displacing seven times more people in 2021, compared to the previous year.
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