Open Letter to Ms. Kaja Kallas
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Vice-President of the European Commission
Subject: Reassessing European Financial Support for the Rwanda Defence Force Deployment in Mozambique
Brussels, March 17, 2026
Madam High Representative,
Jambo ASBL is a European organization carrying the voice of the Rwandan community in Europe and promoting human rights and the rule of law in the Great Lakes region. In that capacity, we wish to draw your attention to a strategic contradiction in the European Union’s support for the deployment of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), a US-sanctioned entity, in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
Stabilizing northern Mozambique and protecting civilian populations and strategic infrastructure are legitimate objectives. When the RDF deployed in 2021, European governments—facing the jihadist insurgency threatening LNG projects around the Afungi peninsula and seeking alternatives to Russian gas—viewed Rwanda as a rapid security partner. The European Union subsequently granted two €20 million packages through the European Peace Facility. As this support approaches its end, discussions appear to be underway regarding a possible third package.
This juncture offers an opportunity for reassessment.
The stabilization achieved by the RDF remains limited. While its deployment helped contain part of the threat around Afungi, the broader insurgency has not been decisively neutralized. LNG operations have resumed only slowly and cautiously, and full-scale activity has yet to materialize.
Recent statements from Rwandan officials linking their continued deployment to external funding illustrate the limits of the current framework. A security arrangement sustained through financial leverage and conditional threats cannot provide a durable foundation for regional stability.
The European Union also faces a growing policy inconsistency. The United States has imposed sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force as an entity for its role in supporting the M23 rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—measures that form part of broader international efforts to restore stability and accountability in the Great Lakes region. The European Union itself has sanctioned several Rwandan military officials, including some who commanded RDF operations in Mozambique. Continuing to finance the same military institution risks undermining the coherence of Europe’s own sanctions policy and weakening the effectiveness of international efforts to promote accountability and stability.
This policy initially reflected legitimate strategic concerns for certain member states, including the protection of major energy investments in Cabo Delgado. France, whose companies hold key interests in these projects, invested significant political capital in promoting Rwanda’s role as a security partner. However, the strategic environment has evolved, and what may have appeared pragmatic for one member state now risks becoming a geopolitical liability for the European Union as a whole.
Yielding to pressure or conditional threats regarding Rwanda’s continued presence would risk weakening the European Union’s credibility and strategic autonomy and could undermine its image as a principled geopolitical actor.
As the current European financial support approaches its end, Europe now faces a clear choice. Granting a third funding package would deepen these contradictions. Attempts to maintain support through indirect mechanisms or alternative arrangements would only reinforce the perception of policy inconsistency. It is therefore time for Europe to reduce its exposure to the “Rwanda option,” develop alternative arrangements to safeguard its interests in Africa, and progressively delink European strategic interests from Rwanda’s military deployments.
This situation raises a broader strategic question: whether it is prudent for Europe to allow critical investments to depend on the military deployment of an actor accused of destabilizing a neighboring country that is itself a strategic partner of the European Union and subject to sanctions by the United States.
Refraining from renewing this support would restore coherence between Europe’s principles, its sanctions policy, and its long-term strategic interests while strengthening the coherence and credibility of the European Union’s external action.
Please accept, Madam High Representative, the assurances of our highest consideration.
Norman Ishimwe SINAMENYE
Jambo ASBL