Japan has promised to help Mozambique in its struggle against Islamist hardliners in Cabo Delgado, where a five-year insurgency has killed 4,600 people and threatened attempts to exploit vast gas deposits in the country’s northernmost province. According to Agence France-Presse, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged financial support during his visit to Maputo on the final leg of an African tour.
The assistance reportedly includes air navigation equipment worth around $22.5 million and a surveillance vessel.
“Security is crucial for the operation of Japanese companies in northern Mozambique,” he said on Thursday.
Japan is the world’s biggest importer of liquified natural gas and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui holds a 20 percent stake in a $20 billion gas project in Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado that was put on hold because of the security situation.
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Fumio Kishida’s pledge comes after both sides expressed the desire to strengthen trade and economic ties.
On a preparatory visit to Maputo earlier this week, Japanese foreign minister Kenji Yamada said Tokyo was “interested in Mozambique, which is a gateway to the region of southeast Africa.”
At a meeting with Yamada, Mozambique’s finance minister Max Tonela said “Japan’s high technological development” and the investment opportunities available in the African country created many possibilities for strengthening economic and trade ties”.
