The Rwanda Security Forces (RSF) appear to be establishing a new outpost in Mucojo, on the coast of Macomia district in Cabo Delgado province, where they have been battling Islamic State-backed insurgents since the end of July, local sources told Zitamar News.
A contingent of up to 500 Rwandan troops were seen moving to Mucojo in the early hours of Thursday 10 October, a source reported.
"Everything indicates that the Rwandans are going to make a new camp in the administrative post of Mucojo,” another source told Zitamar.
“There are many Rwandan soldiers who are going to Mucojo with various equipment and food products in many vehicles. They passed by this same morning [11 October],” said the source, who witnessed the movement of men and vehicles while working in his field along the Macomia-Mucojo road.
A third local source reported seeing 15 Rwandan military vehicles driving toward Mucojo on Thursday.
“We think the Rwandans will stay there and form a base,” the source said.
The joint Rwandan-Mozambican offensive against insurgents entrenched on the Macomia coast was launched at the end of July and began with several weeks of aerial bombardments by Rwandan helicopters.
In September, the governor of Cabo Delgado Valige Tauabo announced that Rwandan and Mozambican troops had recaptured Mucojo, but fighting continued along the coast. At least four Mozambican soldiers were killed in a clash outside Mucojo between 24 and 26 September.
One local source reported on 1 October that insurgents had placed improvised explosive devices on the roads leading into Mucojo, which was limiting the security forces’ ability to move around the Macomia coast.
