26 May 2025
The Rwanda Defense Force has been part of Mozambique’s counterinsurgency in northern Cabo Delgado since 2021. TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil, whose gas projects rely on this support, are doing all they can to ensure Maputo resumes paying for it.
Foto: Estacio Valoi
With the construction of Mozambique LNG set to resume in the coming months, TotalEnergies is growing increasingly worried about Maputo’s non-payment, dating from last August, for thousands of Rwandan troops deployed in northern Mozambique. The unpaid dues amount to between $2m and $4m per month.
The halt in these transfers coincided with the departure of economy and finance minister Ernesto Max Elias Tonela. For nearly a decade, the former natural resources minister had served as a key liaison between oil companies and the Mozambican government.
While the sums involved are far from negligible, Rwanda is more concerned about the political implications of Maputo’s decision to withhold the funds, especially given that three Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) troops were killed and six wounded in an insurgent ambush on 3 May – the RDF’s first publicly acknowledged casualties since September 2021.
PASSING THE BUCK
Last October’s Presidential election seems to have contributed to the halt in payments. Although Filipe Nyusi remained in office until January, he left the decision to resume disbursements to his successor and Frelimo party stablemate Daniel Chapo.
Kigali initially hoped the issue would be quickly resolved. Rwandan President Paul Kagame met Chapo even before he was sworn in in January, and the two heads of state met again on the sidelines of the African Union summit in February.
In the first months of the year, Rwanda gave the new President time to assess the security crisis in Cabo Delgado, off the coast of which rich gas reserves are located. However, patience gradually gave way to irritation.
The insurgency prompted TotalEnergies to invoke force. (Africa Intelligence )
