Various sectors of Mozambican society classify as a corrupt and illegal deal the assignment of a company led by figures linked to ruling political parties in Mozambique and Rwanda to provide unarmed security services to the camp of the French multinational TotalEnergies in Afungi, in the province of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

In a publication by Voice of America (VOA)Some say they are going to litigate against this deal, which involves politically exposed people. Meanwhile, the Mozambican authorities say that ISCO Segurança won the tender because it submitted the best proposal.

"We understand that we have to mobilize civil society to litigate against this war business, because it is corrupt, illegal and promotes instability," said the director of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, Adriano Nuvunga, adding that "this business involving a company linked to Rwandan President Paul Kagame privatizes peace, which is a public good".

For Nuvunga, "the solution to the conflict in Cabo Delgado is not being promoted because war is profitable and, above all, there is no investment in the Armed Forces and in solutions to guarantee an army capable of promoting security".

In the same publication, political analyst Moisés Mabunda considers that "if Mozambicans want professionalism and quality work with international standards, I don't think political parties are the right entities".

"I would expect companies that provide high quality services to be praised, and those companies would be the ones defending the economic projects we are developing," says Mabunda.

Meanwhile, researcher João Feijó says that there is a lot of fuss being made about the Rwandans, "which is relevant, but it is also being used as a political weapon against the government and, above all, against President Nyusi, who is at the end of his mandate".

Aligning himself with the same idea, political analyst Dias da Cunha stresses that "the big problem with this deal is that it is not transparent, absolutely nothing is known about who is in charge of operations in this joint venture, this deal should be banned".

Meanwhile, Frelimo, the ruling party, assumes that Yaqub Ossmane and his son, referred to as being part of the company that joined the Rwandan one, are members of the party, explaining, however, that their company does not belong to Frelimo.

"They are entrepreneurs and the market is open to any entrepreneur and Isco Segurança, because it submitted the best proposal, won the tender and this was not even contested by any other competing company," concludes Osvaldo Castiano, from Frelimo.

The company Isco Segurança is a joint venture between Rwanda's Isco Global Limited and a Mozambican company, not identified by the publication, which claims that Isco Global controls Isco Segurança's 70%, which provides unarmed security for the project.

TotalEnergies confirmed the selection of the company to provide security after "a rigorous tendering process".

Isco Global belongs to the Intersec Security Company, which in turn is a subsidiary of Crystal Ventures, an investment company founded by the ruling party in Rwanda, whose director is the former head of the Rwanda Sovereign Fund, Jack Kyonga.

(Photo DR)