Paul Kagame on Cabo Delgado, 5 September 2021

Starts at 1:18:26

Now we have the same situation [as in Central African Republic] in Mozambique. It's terrorists who call themselves "the caliphate army". Our forces have already managed to get a lot of information, a lot of documents and communications of these people, so we are informed.

They had already secured Cabo Delgado, they've taken it over and they were planning to take over another -- to move to another province called Niassa.

Already Cabo Delgado is three times the size of Rwanda. The area that had been taken over by terrorists is three times bigger than Rwanda. So, working with the government and the President of Mozambique, they requested our support and to act together to deal with this situation. We thought we had it in our means to do it. Sometimes it doesn't require as much as people think; it just requires people determined, who are resourced to a certain level, and which we thought we had; so we agreed to work with the Mozambicans to free the area and the people there who had been suffering for four years I think, that situation had been going on and deteriorating. And as I told you the terrorists wanted to move to another province, they thought they had secured this one enough, Cabo Delgado, then to move to another one.

So then we deployed, and I think in this last one month or so, good work has been done; a big part if not all of this area has been liberated and the population is getting back, however slow but steadily to normal.

I want to make it clear again, so far, until now, we are using our means. We have decent means, which we are also ready to share with friends and brothers and sisters and... So there is nobody who sponsored us for this. And I'm saying this openly on camera, so if there is anybody who says "no no, you are lying, we gave you our money", please, they should feel free to do that. I'm saying this looking at our minister of finance, he knows how much we have been draining into this. But I think the outcomes and the cause are much much bigger than the money we have spent. And I know they will work with the Mozambican government properly and have filled the gaps that have been created, the technical people and others will look at it, I'm sure there is will on the Mozambican side and on our side to address any problem.

But let me say this, and a lot of things have been said about it. I've been reading in the media people questioning, why Rwanda in Mozambique, why they move so fast... it's not far, it's just two hours by air to this place. But also connected - we have found that some of those terrorists come from different places, including Rwanda. We've found Rwandans involved in that place as well, there are Congolese, Ugandans, Tanzanians, Burundians; they're all represented. What is funny is, it's like if somebody had his house on fire and is calling for help, I've never heard of a situation where the one who arrives there first is questioned. "Why did you arrive so fast, to put out the fire?" I've never heard of this. But it's happening again in our case. I told you something about Rwanda; whatever it does is always... [Interviewer: "Is always an evil scheme"] Yes, so I think we are getting too used to that, to be affected by it.

So far, nobody. But of course that place is a place with many resources, including, I think there are many companies, more than just one, he mentioned Total but there are other companies as well because there are huge gas reserves. Of course the work here has stopped. I hope and I'm sure the Mozambicans are hoping that the people will come back to work because it means a lot to their economy and to their development, so for us we are there on the request of the Mozambicans, we are working with them very closely, and once the work is done, secured, we will be talking again to see what more work needs to be done, if any, and we will adjust according to the wishes of the Mozambicans, they are the ones, it's their country, and we are just there to make a contribution and help where we can help.

I think the level of forces we have built up in Mozambique is sufficient. So far there hasn't been any indication of need for more forces to be added. Plus the Mozambican partners are also getting better and more involved. We think so far there is no problem with the level of... but if there is any need, and that can only be assessed correctly on the ground with Mozambican counterparts, we shall adjust to that change as needed. But so far I don't see any indication of that.

Already some troops from SADC countries have arrived, others maybe are expected, soon or later; and so far in fact there has developed good cooperation, there is working together the Rwandan contingent that is there, is having a form of coordination and working with other troops from SADC, have been talking and meeting. I'm sure there is more work to be done with that, which they will do. In terms of any scramble for anything, I don't see any need for that to be there or to be anticipated. Our mission is very clear: it's not tied to resources, it's not tied to anything, it's just to do the job of securing the area and enabling the Mozambicans to do their part. If there are other missions like training of troops and so on, we have been talking about sharing responsibility, there might be even other countries doing the training and developing the capacity of the Mozambicans; there will be others helping on the humanitarian and the development side; there will be so many countries beyond the region, SADC, Rwanda is there under a bilateral arrangement... There is a lot of work to do and I don't think it requires just one partner or country to help. I think we will work together but of course it's Mozambique, it's their country, and I'm sure they will be able and are able to provide leadership on how things evolve. The scramble thing is always anticipated because of different histories of different places and hidden interests of different people, but I think with time experiences teach people lessons.