Jean-Christopher Rufin’s report on the humanitarian situation in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado makes one curious recommendation: calling for the tearing up of an agreement keeping Mozambican forces the stationed at TotalEnergies Afungi site and its surrounding area.
A medical doctor who served as diplomat and humanitarian, Rufin was tasked by Patrick Pouyanné, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the French oil-giant TotalEnergies, to assess the humanitarian situation in the province that would feed the decision of the oil company to resume operations suspended after it declared a force majeure in 2021, following an insurgent attack in Palma, on 24 March, close to the Afungi peninsula, site of Total’s offshore plant.
In 2020, the Mozambican government and Mozambique LNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the government would station a 600-strong Joint Task Force consisting of elements of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) to protect the site and its surrounding area.
Mozambique LNG is a consortium comprising TotalEnergies (26.5%); three Indian oil companies NGOC Videsh Ltd, Bharat Petroleum, and Oil India Ltd (30% in total); the Japanese company Mitsui (20%); the Thai company PTTEP (8.5%); and the State of Mozambique (ENH 15%).
In exchange, Mozambique LNG committed itself to paying for the upkeep of the forces and their accommodation, which involved the building of housing called ‘’bastions”, as well as paying them a bonus.
However, now that the security situation has improved, thanks mostly to the presence of Rwandan forces, Rufin does not see a further need for the task force. “The situation has changed. JTF troops are now sheltered in bastions that provide effective protection. The deployment of the Rwandan army in the area has redirected and reduced the role of Mozambican forces and restored better security conditions,” reads the report.
Rufin thinks that the MoU should be torn up because continuation “seem unnecessary and untimely as this stage.”
Comment
Ruffin’s recommendation is problematic. Perhaps because he is a diplomat, he did not say what he might have wanted to say, which Mozambicans are aware of, including the government.
It is true to that one of the problems that has plagued successive Mozambican governments is the weakness of the state. The state, or better, state institutions have been absent in large tracts of Mozambique.
The FDS are not sufficiently strong to protect the state and its citizens. Most of the blame falls on donors and multilateral agencies which did not allow Mozambique to strengthen the FDS. After the 1992 Rome Peace Agreement and owing to a lack of trust among government and the former guerrilla, and because of peace-keeping considerations, Mozambique was subject to an arms embargo, which made it difficult for the country to purchase weapons.
This had a significant impact on the country’s ability to defend itself and to maintain security – this partly explains why the FDS did not manage to fight back the insurgency.
As such, what Rufin wanted to say was that the FDS are not up to their task, and as under the MoU TotalEnergies had to foot a monthly bill for the stationing of the task force in the Afungi site, this afforded the generals down in Maputo to siphon off part of the financial resources meant for the task force.
So, by recommending the cancellation of the MoU, Rufin is saying that the FDS are not to be trusted. But, by recommending that the Rwandans should be kept in their stead, he seems to be interfering on matters of sovereignty.
It should be up to the Mozambican government to decide where it should station its security forces inside its borders.
Although there has not been a government response, Mozambique Insights understands that the riling Frelimo party and the top brass in the security forces is not happy. It does not help to have “cantons” of foreign troops in Mozambique, even if, for the moment, they are friends.
This confirms the suspicion that President Filipe Nyusi might have entered into an agreement with Rwanda without consulting his generals.
Perhaps, it is time the Mozambican state puts its house in order.
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