[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 213 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7534-S7535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOZAMBIQUE
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise to call attention to the rapidly
burgeoning Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique, which is
dragging that country into ever-increasing violence and chaos. In the
past decade, Mozambique has taken steps to resolve a decades-long civil
war and while peace remains elusive, with longstanding support from the
United States, there has been progress. This progress, when coupled
with the 2010 discovery of enormous natural gas reserves in the remote
northern province of Cabo Delgado, could have changed the development
course of the country. But a new conflict has emerged in Mozambique
that threatens all of the potential gains for the citizens of the
province and the entire country.
The origins of this extremist insurgency share traits with many
others globally: a marginalized community's grievance against corrupt
and distant rulers, fueled and brutally exploited by radical Islamist
ideologues, has allowed extremism to take root and gain traction, while
the innocent majority of the local population bears the cost. The
extremists have proclaimed allegiance to ISIS and have rapidly
developed increasingly sophisticated military capabilities;
Mozambique's poorly trained security forces have proven unable to
vanquish the group. It is an insurgency on the advance. It has seized
seizing entire towns and now controls considerable territory.
The insurgents, who have attracted foreign fighters and recently
launched attacks into neighboring Tanzania, have used horrific acts of
terror--including systematic use of arson, murder, often including
beheadings, and kidnapping--to force compliance with their aims. Their
acts have effectively displaced more than 500,000 people in Cabo
Delgado, creating a severe humanitarian crises. In 1 week in November
alone, more than 10,000 people fled to the port city of Pemba, many in
rickety, unsafe boats. A significant of these internally displaced
persons now languish in crowded, unsanitary conditions.
What can be done to solve this crisis? And what should be the role of
the United States, which today appears to be retreating from Africa?
This year has perhaps taught us more than any in recent memory that
stability and security around the world can directly impact the
stability and security of the United States. We have a sustained
interest in helping to support innocent, suffering people and promoting
stability.
The security aspect of the threat requires a security solution.
However, the Mozambican security forces have demonstrated that they
cannot effectively respond to this threat without assistance. It is
clear that they lack proper training and equipment, and a substantial
body of reporting has established that elements of these forces have
frequently committed serious human rights abuses, as well as engaged in
petty corruption targeting the local impoverished population. The
Mozambican Government must take steps to ensure that state security
forces are not only effective, but that they also engage in such a
manner that earns the trust of the population they are charged with
protecting
The good news is that the international community has begun to
respond. The U.S.'s counterterrorism coordinator recently visited
Maputo to offer our assistance to the government. European countries
have also pledged to assist with building Mozambique's security
capacities. Any such counterterrorism support must include rigorous
human rights training, as well as improvements in civil-military
relations and effective intelligence-gathering. The government should
also be pressed to reduce its reliance on local militias, who have even
less training and accountability than government troops.
The humanitarian crisis also demands immediate action. Of the half
million people who have been displaced, 41 percent are children. The
provinces of northern Mozambique that host most of these newly
displaced people are among the poorest in one of the world's least-
developed countries and have little capacity to assist those affected
by the crisis. In total, more than 1.3 million people in northern
Mozambique are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and
protection, according to the U.N. The international community must step
up and fully fund
[[Page S7535]]
the modest request of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, which has said that it requires $254 million to
provide humanitarian assistance through 2021.
Counterterrorism training and humanitarian assistance alone, however,
are not enough to defeat ISIS in Mozambique. They are only tools to
respond to the immediate crisis. To effectively address the root causes
of the conflict--the social and economic inequalities that have allowed
extremism to take hold and flourish--the Mozambican Government and
international partners must assist in reaching the country's
increasingly-alienated northern communities. The government must engage
with its northern citizens and deliver what the majority of the
population wants and expects: better governance and critical social
services. The international community can help by collaborating and
coordinating their engagement with the government on a package of
development aid that helps to address poor governance, increases
transparency and fights corruption, effectively delivers health and
education services, and fosters job opportunities and local
entrepreneurship. Mozambique and its international partners also must
scale up programs aimed at countering extremist ideology and promoting
defections from the insurgency.
Donors must also hold the government's feet to the fire on its
obligation to invest it its own citizenry, including by insisting that
the government develop its natural resources--notably the gas reserves
in Cabo Delgado--in an equitable, transparent, manner that results in
that a significant portion of prospective natural gas revenues being
invested in the provinces that host Mozambique's gas resources.
As the conflict grows in scope and intensity, the United States will
need to further develop a coordinated, interagency strategy, one which
uses all the levers of American power--diplomatic, development, and
defense--to address Cabo Delgado's military, humanitarian, and
development crisis and to work with regional partners on to both inform
and implement such a strategy.
The situation in Mozambique is dire, and unfortunately it has not
attracted an appropriate level of attention from policymakers. It is
tragic to see a country that seemed to be on the cusp of transformation
dragged back into conflict. The situation is not hopeless. The United
States and its partners can together effectively help Mozambique defeat
this insurgency and support the Mozambican people's aspirations for a
more hopeful future, but the situation is urgent. We must act now.
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