Ukraine and Russia foreign affairs ministers, Dmytro Kuleba and Sergei Lavrov, respectively visited Maputo, Mozambique’s capital city, within a week of each other to seek diplomatic support in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Mozambique, which sits at the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member, has taken a neutral approach in the war of aggression Russia has been waging against Ukraine.
First to land in Maputo was Kuleba on 24 May, one day after he had urged African leaders to abandon their policy of neutrality. Kuleba said that was in Maputo to counter what he called “Russia’s investment in disinformation.”
After talks with President Filipe Nyusi and his Mozambican counterpart Verónica Macamo, he announced Ukraine’s wishes to open an embassy in Maputo, and the two parties agreed on holding a Maputo-Kyev business forum.
Levrov arrived on 31 May and held talks with Nyusi and Public Works Minister Carlos Mesquita, owing to Macamo’s being abroad on a diplomatic mission. He said that he respected Mozambique’s neutrality policy and expressed the wish to strengthen cooperation between Mozambique and Russia in various areas, including supplying Mozambique with weapons, and Russian companies seeking to invest in building pipelines in Mozambique, among others, as well as inviting Mozambique to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.
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Mozambique’s neutrality stance has divided opinion in the country. One group argues that owing to Mozambique and Russia historical ties and their hatred of what they see as an imperialist West, it behoves Mozambicans to back Russia, adding that Moscow is just reacting to a perceived Western encroachment on its backyard.
The other group posits that Russia is the aggressor and Mozambique should side with Ukraine, whose sovereignty is under attack.
Observers point out that by staying on the side-lines, Mozambique is implicitly supporting Russia, especially when in the past it has sided with countries under attack from a foreign power. Thus, they believe that the current stance reeks of hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, observers find the routes taken by the two ministers interesting: Kuleba arrived in Maputo fresh from addressing African leaders at the headquarters of the African Union, in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Abeba, and then he landed in Rwanda.
Levrov arived in Maputo after a sojourn in Burundi, where he held talks with President Evariste Ndayishimive.
Burundi and Rwanda have belatedly been trying to mend relations, which had frozen after they traded accusations that the two countries were harbouring enemy elements wanted in both countries. Burundi claimed that Rwanda backed elements who plotted a coup in 2015 against Ndayishimive.
Russia has been at loggerheads with the European Union countries for its support of Ukraine, notably France. Incidentally, the Franch government owes shares in TotalEnergies, which liquified natural gas plant in the Afungi peninsula, in the Palma district of the northern Cabo Delgado province, is protected by Rwandan troops under a secret agreement between Nyusi and Paul Kagame.
Could all this criss-crossing point at a new front in the war between Russia and Ukraine? It’s interesting that Russia is promising weapons to Mozambique, especially because the European Union is training Mozambican troops and it is footing the bill for the Rwandan army in Cabo Delgado. Would Russia be attempting to throw a spanner in the works given the rush for Africa’s resources between Russia and the West?
It could be that, given Mozambique’s neutral stance, Maputo might have a say, however faint, in the war in Ukraine.
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