Flight tracking data suggests Mozambican president’s next stop is Kigali, Rwanda
President Filipe Nyusi has left Brussels after a meeting with the European Union’s top diplomat where he asked for help paying for Rwandan and Southern African Development Community (SADC) military involvement in combating an insurgency in northern Mozambique.
Flight tracking data suggest Nyusi’s next stop will be Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, whose military deployment has been key to Mozambique recovering control of parts of Cabo Delgado province from insurgent control.
Nyusi arrived in Brussels on Monday from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where he was attending a conference of the African Union. He was photographed at Brussels Airport alighting from a private Air Hamburg plane which, according to flight tracking app Flightradar24, is now en route to Kigali, having left Brussels on Wednesday afternoon. The plane is travelling under the same callsign as it used on the flight to Brussels, suggesting it is still carrying out the same charter.
Nyusi’s last meeting in Brussels was with the European Commission High Representative, Josep Borrell, who had been due to visit Mozambique on 31 January, but whose trip was cancelled due to a case of covid-19 in his entourage.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Wednesday, Nyusi said they had discussed the terrorism situation in the north of the country, including the need for financial help for Rwandan troops and troops provided by the members of the Southern African Development Community.
Earlier on in the trip to Brussels, President Nyusi and his entourage, including energy minister Max Tonela and deputy foreign minister Manuel Gonçalves, also met with European Council President Charles Mitchel and EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen.
On Tuesday, Urpilainen pledged further support to Mozambique to address the impacts of natural disasters.
On January 28, the head of EU military staff, Herve Blejean, stated that Rwanda had asked “for financial support through the European Peace Facility, and the high representative is determined to respond favourably.”
