Good afternoon. President Daniel Chapo’s visit to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, this week was important for at least two reasons. For one thing, it brought Rwandan president Paul Kagame out in public, dispelling rumours that he was ill. But for another, the agreement signed by the two governments on the Rwandan military presence in Cabo Delgado province (as Chapo and Kagame met for the first time since Chapo took power in January) effectively answered suspicions and hopes that Chapo was not keen on it.
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Ever since Chapo’s predecessor as president, Filipe Nyusi, and Kagame agreed a deal for Rwanda to provide troops to fight the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, there has been a body of opinion in the ruling Frelimo party and wider society that was hostile to the move. Many senior figures in Frelimo have used their political connections to win contracts to supply the Mozambican armed forces. The Rwandan troops, who have their own supply arrangements, were a threat to their business opportunities. More generally, the fact that Mozambique was forced to call for outside military help hurt the pride of some, and undermined claims about the effectiveness of the country’s armed forces. There were also those who believed, without good evidence, that Rwanda had turned Cabo Delgado into a sort of colony and was making money out of business opportunities in the province as part of a secret deal with Nyusi.
