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The representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Mozambique, Mirko Manzoni, believes that the country’s partners should provide him with military aid to fight the rebels in Cabo Delgado, “without hypocrisy.”
“Donors contribute to Mozambique’s budget, it would be more prudent if they directly help the Mozambican army, without hypocrisy,” he said Tuesday, in an interview with the online edition of the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
Manzoni, who until 2019 had been Swiss ambassador to Mozambique, and later chosen by António Guterres to accompany the peace negotiations between the government and the opposition, speaks in this interview about another dossier, that of the armed insurgency in the north of the country.
The official said that he opposes the use of mercenaries, but the situation is complex: “the reality on the ground should make us reflect.”
“When you ask for help and no one lifts a finger, that’s what happens. Mozambique spends fortunes on mercenaries ”, first with Russians from the Wagner group and now with a South African company, explained Manzoni, and then asked donors for direct help.
Mirko Manzoni says that it is necessary to listen to the leadership of the Portuguese-speaking country.
“Let us listen to Mozambique’s call: military aid must be provided through cooperation”, that is, “helping the Mozambican army to fulfill its obligations”, rather than taking its place.
He says that he is aware that this help is not welcomed by the partners, who do not want to “get their hands dirty”, but “it is an illusion to want to develop the province of Cabo Delgado without first having security,” he said.
The French oil company Total finances a security service to protect its natural gas exploration facilities under construction in the region, “but this effort is very modest.”
“Mozambique would need armored vehicles, personnel transport trucks, surveillance drones (autonomous planes) and speedboats to control the coasts,” he explained.
Guterres’ representative in Mozambique says the situation in Cabo Delgado reminds him of the 2012 ‘jihadist’ threat in Mali, but opposes international intervention in northern Mozambique.
This would be to “add fuel to the fire” and benefit extremist propaganda.
On the other hand, he also said that it is not possible to “dialogue with the deaf,” referring to the rebels.
At the beginning of the attacks, they were mainly Mozambican, but now they are mostly international “jihadists” from Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo ”, with“ very sophisticated weapons ”, he added, however, explaining . or evidence.
Asked about the human rights violations committed against the population, some attributed to the Mozambican army, Manzoni said that, “paradoxically, these atrocities must also be seen as a clear request for help” from the armed forces themselves.
“I am in no way justifying the abuses, but unfortunately they are often the result of the frustration and helplessness of Mozambican troops in this conflict,” he said.
Armed violence in Cabo Delgado has been going on for three years and is causing a humanitarian crisis with nearly 2,000 dead and 435,000 displaced, without adequate housing or food, concentrated mainly in the provincial capital, Pemba.
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