On the sidelines of the AU Summit 2025 in February, President Kagame met with President Daniel Chapo of Mozambique. The two leaders reviewed the strong bilateral relations between Rwanda and Mozambique and discussed ways to further expand and deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation.
KIGALI – Mozambique’s newly elected President, Daniel Chapo, is set to arrive in Rwanda this Wednesday for his first official state visit as head of state.
The latest engagement signaling a continued strengthening of bilateral ties between the two nations, particularly in the crucial area of security cooperation.
The visit, which follows President Chapo’s election in October last year, will build upon a meeting between the Mozambican leader and President Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa last February.
Preparing the groundwork for the presidential visit, a high-level Mozambican delegation is already in Kigali.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rwanda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Gen (Rtd) James Kabarebe, and Mozambique’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Maria Manuela dos Santos Lucas, co-chaired a ministerial consultation meeting.
The session focused on reviewing ongoing joint initiatives and identifying new avenues to deepen the countries’ partnership.
The cornerstone of the Rwanda-Mozambique relationship is a robust security alliance, first established under Mozambique’s previous government and enthusiastically reinforced by President Chapo’s new administration.
This partnership was catalyzed in 2021 when Mozambique invited Rwanda to assist in combating a devastating Islamist insurgency in its northern Cabo Delgado Province.
The deployment of the Rwandan forces, comprising both army and police units, proved to be a decisive turning point. Their efforts were instrumental in neutralizing the terrorist threat and stabilizing the region, paving the way for the safe return of tens of thousands of displaced civilians and enabling reconstruction and social recovery efforts to begin.
The strength of this security partnership was further underscored just last week when Mozambique’s Minister of National Defence, Major General Cristóvão Artur Chume, led a high-level military delegation to Rwanda.
The delegation included the country’s Armed Forces Army Commander, Maj Gen André Rafael Mahunguane, and the Commander of the Law and Order Service of the national police, CP Fabião Pedro Nhancololo.
President Chapo’s visit is expected to celebrate the successful security collaboration in Cabo Delgado and explore ways to expand the bilateral relationship into new areas of mutual economic and social development, solidifying a partnership that has become a model for African-led security solutions.
