The Minister of National Defense (MDN), Cristóvão Chume, said today in Maputo that the Rwandan and Tanzanian military forces will remain in the Northern Operational Theater, in Cabo Delgado province. According to him, the eradication of terrorism is not expected soon. 

The foreign military support the Mozambican Defense Forces in the fight against terrorism, and according to Chume, the support forces will leave when terrorism no longer poses a threat to Mozambique. 

"The relationship will continue on the ground, until the conditions that led us, as a country, to invite these countries are met. When these challenges have been overcome, then we will say that we, for our part, will continue to defend our country, but the relationship is healthy. We can't make the mistake of discrediting the contribution that these countries have made to our country, including the fact that when they were here they made a great contribution. That's why, when it reached the level of stability that we have achieved, SAMIM considered that it had ended its mission in Mozambique. We think that, as far as Rwanda and Tanzania are concerned, when we believe that the level of threat or risk posed in Cabo Delgado has been minimized, they will naturally leave without any problems," he explained.

Currently, the security situation in the province is relatively stable due to the occurrence of some attacks in the Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia regions. But he warned that the terrorist threat is not expected to be dismantled in the near future.

"The situation remains stable, despite the occurrence of some attacks in some communities, mainly in the district of Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia, in Cabo Delgado. Of course, it's still a huge challenge, because our limit will be to consider terrorism defeated in our country. This is still a long way off," he acknowledged, quoted by Radio Mozambique.

Chume was speaking today at the Tenente General Armando Emílio Guebuza Higher Defense Institute, in the city of Matola, Maputo province, on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony for Bachelor's and Master's degree students in various courses.