Why is Rwanda getting involved in Mozambique? What does the country stand to gain?
Military intervention by Rwanda and SADC only buys time for Mozambique to address lack of development in its northern region.
EMIDIO JOZINE/AFP via Getty Images
Rwanda’s military intervention in Mozambique’s war against Islamic insurgents has included a request that Mozambique rein in Rwandan opposition members on its soil
A specimen of Proscelotes aenea collected by Loveridge in 1918 in Lumbo, Mozambique, now kept at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.
Licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Frelimo, which governs Mozambique, has squandered the enormous political capital it enjoyed at independence. It now remains in power through violence, intimidation, harassment, and threats.
Oil and gas extraction can have dire consequences for the countries in which it takes place.
ARMBRUSTERBIZ/Pixabay
There is more support for democracy among African people than is often recognised. Yet this can be undermined by election rigging and is lower in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.
A child plays in a street in the port village of Paquitequete near Pemba, northern Mozambique. The region suffered decades of neglect, and major gas projects have failed to deliver local benefits.
Photo by Alfredo Zuniga/AFP via Getty Images
Sam Jones, United Nations University e Finn Tarp, University of Copenhagen
The development strategy based on foreign investment in natural resources projects has not delivered economic growth or security. What’s needed is an inclusive vision based on local realities.
Displaced people arrive in Pemba, Mozambique, after fleeing Palma following a brutal attack by Islamist insurgents in March.
John Wessels/AFF via Getty Images
Intervention in Cabo Delgado is a potentially dangerous move with far-reaching consequences for SADC if its efforts fail, or it becomes a protracted intervention.
Scientist Kafayat Falana testing the viability of cowpea germinated seeds in a laboratory in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria.
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
What’s needed is a prioritisation of the health and medicinal values of the food that’s consumed in African countries.
Members of the Ossewabrandwag on parade during WWII. The then political opposition collaborated with the Germans.
OB Photo Collection/Records, Archives and Museum Division, North-West University
Following the war, the South African authorities were anxious to charge known war criminals, traitors and collaborators. But nothing came of it.
People displaced by the atacks on the town of Palma, northern Mozambique, flee to safety with meagre possessions.
Alfredo Zuniga / AFP via Getty Images
The conflict has put a temporary lid on plans that have been in the making for more than a decade since rich liquefied natural gas reserves were discovered in the Rovuma Basin.
“We saw patients dying for avoidable reasons. They were dying because masks that came loose were not being replaced,” says MSF COVID-19 intervention nursing activities manager, Caroline Masunda.
Chris Allan
Where there are not enough health workers to deliver medical care, one solution is to move certain tasks to less specialised health workers, a process called task-shifting.
A copper mine in Phalaborwa, South Africa. The African continent is home to vast mineral resources.
Mark Schwettmann/Shutterstock
It seems the production of Earth science knowledge in Africa is simply not progressing, despite the world’s interest in (and exploitation of) the continent’s mineral wealth.
Soldiers from the Mozambican army patrol the streets in Mocimboa da Praia following an attack by suspected Islamists in October 2018.
Adrien Barbier/AFP via Getty Images
Jaishree Raman, National Institute for Communicable Diseases e Shüné Oliver, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Southern African Development Community countries are very connected. Highly mobile and migrant populations frequently cross borders, posing significant challenges to reaching a malaria-free region.
The Mozambican military has proven to be inept at stopping atrocities by extremist insurgents in the Cabo Delgado province.
EPA-EFE/Antonio Silva
Should South Africa’s military get involved, it would be venturing into a highly violent and complex landscape, requiring a counter-terrorism type of operations.