APA-Maputo (Mozambique) United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Wednesday discussed the “security situation” in Mozambique’s insurgency-affected Cabo Delgado province with President Filipe Nyusi as Washington ramped up its diplomatic charm offensive to reassert its influence as a global superpower.
According to the US Department of Defence, the telephone conversation between Nyusi and Austin III focused on the “US-Mozambique bilateral defence relationship and the security situation in Cabo Delgado province.”
“The two leaders exchanged views on the situation in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique’s role on the UN Security Council, and other regional issues of shared interest,” the department said in a statement.
It added: “They also discussed priorities for the coming months, particularly related to implementation of the Global Fragility Act.”
The Global Fragility Act, which was signed into law by then President Donald Trump in 2019, requires the US government to develop a strategy for preventing the drivers of violent conflict and extremism, and to test a more coordinated, cost-effective and sustained U.S. approach in hot spots around the world.
To that end, Washington has entered into a series of partnerships with countries such as Haiti, Libya, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, as well countries in coastal West Africa, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Togo.
The law mandates 10-year plans to be implemented across the partner countries.
The telephone conversation between President Nyusi and Austin comes at a time the US is seeking to reassert its influence on efforts to contain an Islamic State-linked insurgency in northern Mozambique in the wake of equally successful diplomatic charm offensives by China and Russia in the region and other parts of Africa.
Cabo Delgado province has witnessed a deadly insurgency that has displaced millions of people since 2017.
The conflict has attracted the attention of global powers such as the China, France, Russia and the US, with each trying to influence the fight against terror in the region.
JN/APA