(Reuters) -Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said the country cannot stay forever in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, where allied Rwandan and Mozambican troops have been recapturing areas from Islamist militants since July.
“As much as we cannot be here forever, I think the problem we are dealing with, with our friends in Mozambique cannot stay here forever too,” Kagame said at a joint media conference with Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi on Saturday.
“Every time, every step, we are assessing what needs to be done… The need to stay and for how long, that comes out naturally as progress is made.”
Rwanda’s mission was initially meant to last three months, but on Friday Kagame said it would be up to Mozambique to determine how long they should stay.
Kagame also called for more support from other countries.
The insurgency, gaining in strength since 2017, has caused almost 750,000 people to be internally displaced and threatened the viability of $60 billion worth of gas projects in Cabo Delgado.
As well as the Rwandans, a contingent of forces from regional bloc the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is also patrolling northern Cabo Delgado.
(Reporting by Helen Reid; editing by Jason Neely and Clelia Oziel)
