Maj Gen Eugene Nkubito, the joint task force commander of Rwandan security forces in Mozambique’s northernmost Province of Cabo Delgado, is not daunted by the huge task at hand, he told The New Times in an exclusive interview.

About two months ago, Nkubito travelled to Cabo Delgado to take charge of the operation that started in July 2021 when Rwandan security forces were deployed, at the request of the government of Mozambique, to help fight the Islamic State-linked terrorists there, stabilize the region and restore state authority.

He replaced Innocent Kabandana whose promotion to Lieutenant-General was made public on September 26, after his tour of duty in Mozambique. Kabandana managed the initial phases of the operation, especially the tricky or decisive third phase in which Rwandan forces, working with their Mozambican counterparts, quickly purged the terrorists from their strongholds in Palma and Mocimboa da Praia Districts. The two districts are the Rwandan security forces’ area of responsibility.

The first and second phases of the operation, planning and movement of troops, respectively, were some work but not as much as the real combat operations of phase three.

Nkubito has to contend with the fourth phase, stabilisation. In this phase, Rwandan and host nation security forces must not only help thousands of people return to their villages and settle peacefully but they must ensure that people get access to, among others, healthcare in a region where the health system is not functioning.

The security forces must also, always, be alert to ensure that the terrorists don’t return to disturb the peace.

Terrorists are still operating in districts not in the Rwandan security forces’ area of responsibility.

"The fourth phase, stabilisation, goes together with the third phase, the decisive one, because the enemy was defeated but not destroyed completely. Now, as we keep maintaining security, we enter the stabilisation phase where people are returning to their homes and villages,” the General said.

"People need to be helped to stabilise; start working and engaging in all other socio-economic activities. We help them because they need support. That&039;s what we are doing today. We do it together with government forces, and the local leaders.”

During the first three phases of the operation, people had fled from the areas affected by the terrorists. But things are different now with so many people returning home.

Task has been doubled

Already, more than 130,000 internally displaced persons returned to their villages. The joint forces in the two districts are working, day and night, to ensure these people feel safe and catered for, in many ways.

"The task now has been doubled because before, we had no population here but now they have come back and they need our help. And we have to help them as we maintain security. We do it concurrently,” Nkubito said.

The joint forces are regularly conducting medical outreach programmes deep into rural areas where people are in dire need of health care services yet hospitals are not functional due to the consequences of the insurgency. Patients with serious conditions that must be operated on are evacuated and treated at the Rwandan security forces field hospital in Afungi.

"When we go to patrols, we go with a medical team to help people. People are returning in hundreds. The hospitals are not functioning. But people are returning and they expect doctors and others to help them,” Nkubito said.

The General noted that people are not really secure until they can get other basic needs. People also need to work, and children need to go to school, he added.

"You cannot tell me that one has security if they can get sick and not access medicine.”

As regards cooperation with the host nation’s forces, Nkubito said: "It's going on very well. Right from the beginning we are working together. Even today, you saw their doctors with us. We do appreciate that.”

On Friday, Rwandan and Mozambican security forces nurses and doctors conducted a medical outreach programme in Quionga trading centre. At the end of the day, they had provided free medical treatment to 1,689 people. Two days earlier, on September 28, the Rwandan security forces’ medical corps treated 788 people in Olumbi village, another rural locality about 100 kilometers from Quionga.

In Quionga, Amadi Simba, a 49-year-old fisherman from Kilindi, and his niece, Asha Sumaili, 30, were waiting their turn to see a doctor. Amadi had walked for an hour to get reach the location. "I am strong but for older and weaker people it can take much longer,” Simba said.

Asha said: "Some people use motorbikes but its a challenge because the bikes are not so many. We appreciate the help we are getting, nonetheless.”

Brig Gen Moise Emmanuel Cau, the Mozambican security forces commander in Palma district, said: "This type of activity is very good because, as an organization we are not only focused on security but also on the social side, related to the health and education sectors, always trying to finds ways to make sure the community can do their daily activities like fishing, agriculture, and doing small business as they used to do during days before this situation the we face today occurred.

"Our most important mission is to create an ideal environment so that people can get back to their normal life. We are working side by side with our Rwandan friends in search of mechanisms to establish security in the whole perimeter so that people go about their activities without any fear and without limitations.”

Also important, the Mozambican commander noted, is that they are working "to create a relationship of trust” between the community and the security and defence forces.

"This is our major concern. We are working to establish security in the whole perimeter, bringing the community closer, trying to find enemy tracks and having the community as part of solving the situation we are facing.”