France and fossil fuel giant Total seek to keep Rwandan troops in Mozambique as EU pulls funding

French officials and fossil fuel giant Total are looking at ways to continue a military mission led by Rwanda in north-east Mozambique, amid confusion over the future of the deployment, which has been combating Islamist insurgents close to a major Total concession.

In January, after the Rwandan Defence Force captured the city of Ulvira in eastern DR Congo, the EU confirmed that it would end funding for the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) mission in May.

Weeks later, the United States imposed sanctions on the RDF as an organisation, accusing it of repeatedly breaking a December peace settlement signed by Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame and DR Congo’s Felix Tshishekedi.

Rwanda has since hit back by accusing the Trump administration of bias against them because it wants to get access to DR Congo’s mineral riches.

The RDF mission has been deployed since 2021 with a mandate that includes protecting a $25bn [€21.4bn] liquefied natural gas project in Cabo Delgado led by Total and US counterpart Exxon.