2023-05-05 14:33:17
Japan has pledged to provide financial assistance to Mozambique in its fight against a five-year-old insurgency in the northern region of the southern African country.
After Rwanda and the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mozambique can count on Japan to defeat the jihadists raging in the north. Traveling to Maputo on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who met with President Filipe Nyusi, said Tokyo would help Maputo fight against Islamist insurgents in Cabo Delgado province.
“Japan will financially support the fight against terrorism Mr. Kishida promised, addressing reporters.
The aid would include air navigation equipment worth around $22.5 million and a surveillance vessel.
Kishida said Japan wants to see an end to the insurgency by Islamic State (IS)-affiliated militias because it has investments in the affected region.
“Security is crucial for the activities of Japanese companies in northern Mozambique “, supported the head of the Japanese government.
Japanese conglomerate Mitsui holds a 20% stake in a $20 billion gas project led by French company TotalEnergies.
The project, which is considered Africa’s largest foreign direct investment to date, was mothballed in April 2021 after TotalEnergies withdrew all of its staff from the site following jihadist attacks in the province. .
TotalEnergies and its partners – Mitsui (Japan), ENH (Mozambique), PTT Exploration (Thailand), ONGC Videsh Limited, Bharat Petroleum and Oil India (India) – had planned to launch the project in 2024 after discovering a large quantity of gas natural off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2010.
The target of launching in 2024 may no longer be possible due to the interruption of operations for two years.
The project is expected to make Mozambique one of the ten largest gas exporters in the world.
The insurgency has killed more than 4,600 people since October 2017 and displaced millions more from Cabo Delgado.
Kishida was on the final leg of an African tour which also saw him visit Ghana, Egypt and Kenya earlier in the week.
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