Rwanda says Mozambique has secured funds for it to continue Cabo Delgado mission

Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Jean Patrick Nduhungirehe

Johannesburg. Rwanda's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Mozambique had secured the funds for Rwanda's army to ​continue its deployment in the insurgency-hit and gas-rich ‌Cabo Delgado province.

Rwanda sent troops to northern Mozambique in 2021, at Mozambique's request, to help stabilise areas previously overrun by an ​Islamic State-linked insurgency.

Its mission was partly funded by ​the European Union, which Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier ⁠Nduhungirehe said had become reluctant to provide funding.

"This ​year, Rwanda... decided to deal exclusively with the Government of ​Mozambique, which, in its turn, has secured and will continue to secure the necessary funding for the Rwandan security forces in Cabo ​Delgado," he wrote on X.

He did not say ​how much funding had been secured or for how long. Mozambique's government ‌did ⁠not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rwanda had warned in March that it may withdraw its troops if adequate funding could not be secured, after Bloomberg reported ​that the EU ​was not ⁠planning to renew its support.

The terms of Mozambique's agreement with Rwanda have never been ​made public.

The presence of Rwandan troops helped ​weaken ⁠the insurgency enough for TotalEnergies to relaunch its $20 billion Liquefied Natural Gas project in Mozambique's far north earlier this year, ⁠though analysts ​tracking the insurgency say attacks ​still continue.