The ManicaPost
Editor’s Musings
Wendy Nyakurerwa- Matinde
AFTER freeing itself from the jaws of colonial bondage in 1975, Mozambique found itself constricted by civil war from 1977 up to 1992.
After the decades of civil war, the southern African nation then went into recovery mode and the discovery of oil and gas promised to transform the fortunes of the country.
For the next few years, Mozambique’s economy grew rapidly as the government embarked on a series of macroeconomic reforms designed to stabilise it.
Mozambique was well on its way to becoming one of Africa’s economic miracles.
But just as the nation began to relish the prospects of a new day, a twin menace emerged – the rise of Islamist insurgency in the north and opposition Renamo banditry in the central region.
The violence in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado began in October 2017.
Armed groups have been ravaging Cabo Delgado, bordering Tanzania, for more than three years.
Predictably, economic activity has been hampered by these disturbances. The projects of the several multinational corporations that had invested in the gas-rich province could stall if the violence continues to escalate.
Since 2017, militants have killed 700 civilians and also targeted security forces, destroying government infrastructure and seizing weapons from Mozambican troops.
Recently, armed fighters overran the coastal town of Palma – killing dozens of civilians and sending thousands fleeing for safety.
Sadc listens
Clearly, Mozambique is crying out for help as the rising extremist violence in the country’s northern region threatens stability in southern Africa.
Following the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Extraordinary Double Troika Summit in Maputo on the security situation in northern Mozambique last week, the regional bloc is now working on resuscitating and capacitating its Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) in order to facilitate deployment in Mozambique.
President Mnangagwa, who is also the outgoing chairman of the regional bloc’s peace and security organ, has said it is now the responsibility of the defence and security chiefs to facilitate this deployment.
Region under threat
Mozambique shares borders with Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia and Tanzania – all members of Sadc.
While Cabo Delgado is over 1 000 kilometres away from Harare, Zimbabwe and her regional counterparts simply cannot look the other way for various reasons outlined in this instalment.
Through the disturbances in Mozambique, the security of the entire region is under threat, hence the Heads of State’s resolution to consider a coordinated response to the attacks.
In West Africa, Boko Haram was just a small movement that grew into a very serious threat, not just to north-eastern Nigeria but to the entire Lake Chad Basin region, comprising Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
The Nigerian military has consequently received assistance from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to push Boko Haram out of several provinces in north-eastern Nigeria,
Boko Haram’s expansion into neighbouring states is evidence that Sadc should assist Mozambique now before the broader region faces a similar threat.
Again in West Africa, Mali has been under Islamist military attack since 2012.
The attacks have spread into Burkina Faso and Niger, with fighters linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda exploiting the poverty of marginalised communities and inflaming tensions between ethnic groups.
The conflict now threatens other neighbouring countries.
Zimbabwe-Mozambique ties
The two southern African countries share a common history that dates back to the days of the liberation struggle.
Following Mozambique’s attainment of independence in 1975, Zimbabwe now had a neighbour it could use as a launch pad for its own struggle for independence.
Mozambique offered Zimbabwe a safe haven from where she could coordinate her military operations and train new forces.
President Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique after the country’s independence said in his 1975 speech: “The struggle in Zimbabwe is our struggle.”
Perhaps now is the time to return the favour.
But the relations between the two neighbouring countries goes beyond politics.
Zimbabwe and Mozambique share a critical economic corridor as the latter is a strategic economic partner for the landlocked former which uses its port facilities to receive imported goods.
Zimbabwe also relies on Mozambique to transport its fuel via a pipeline or by road.
The stability in that country is therefore crucial for smooth economic operations in Zimbabwe.
Mozambique is also eager to escalate economic relations between Harare and Maputo and has identified the transport sector as a crucial enabler to the envisaged co-operation.
The governments of Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe have therefore expressed willingness to revive the Techobanine Port construction project in Matutuíne District, Maputo Province.
According to the project’s Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in 2016 by the three countries, the project will see the construction of a 1 700km railway line linking Francistown in Botswana, Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and the Mozambican port of Techobanine to facilitate enhanced regional trade.
This railway line will be particularly useful in easing passage of goods at a time when Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to boost trade between Africa’s 54 states.
Considering all these political and economic ties, clearly the cost of inaction is far greater than that of military engagement.
War is no picnic, but when it calls there is a price for not answering.
Till next week, let’s chew the cud.
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Twitter @wnyakurerwa.
