Page 7 - AfrElec Week 18 2021

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

its soldiers to Cabo Delgado. Its representative
at last week’s SADC was part of the group that the Islamist group is active. Moreover, Tanzanian
endorsed the proposal to deploy nearly 3,000 authorities are not averse to involvement in the
troops in northern Mozambique. matter, and they are keen to clear obstacles to the
For another, Tanzania has a direct interest Tanzania LNG project, which will involve Royal
in quelling the unrest in Cabo Delgado. ASWJ Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) and Equinor
fighters have attacked multiple villages near the (Norway).
Mozambique-Tanzania border over the last few
years, and they even struck a Tanzanian border Overcoming old quarrels
post last October. Incidents of this type have led Reaching an agreement on this front would
Tanzanian authorities to deploy troops near the probably not be easy. Relations between Tan-
border in a bid to protect the southern part of zania and Mozambique have not always been
the country. smooth, and politicians might argue that ini-
Furthermore, Tanzania’s government ought tiatives that benefit Mozambique, Total and
to understand what is at stake. The administra- the other LNG projects might hurt Tanzania,
tion of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who Equinor and Shell (and vice versa).
took office after her predecessor John Magufuli However, Suluhu has already shown herself
died in March of this year, is eager to revive a willing to apply herself to reconciling old quar-
large-scale LNG project. This scheme, known as rels. Earlier this week, for instance, she travelled
Tanzania LNG, bears some similarity to Total’s to Nairobi and met with Kenyan President
plan, as it calls for major international oil com- Uhuru Kenyatta to discuss bilateral trade and
panies (IOCs) to develop offshore gas fields and co-operation. The meeting, which lasted for sev-
send their production to an onshore facility for eral hours, resulted in the signing of more than
LNG production. And if ASWJ starts targeting a dozen memoranda of understanding (MoU),
Tanzanian territory in earnest, it will face risks one of which envisions the construction of a
similar to those that forced Total to stop work on joint gas pipeline. As such, it served to reduce
Mozambique LNG. the some of the tension that built up between the
In short, if Nyusi wants bilateral deals, his two countries during Magufuli’s time in office.
administration ought to consider working with As of press time, it was not clear whether
Tanzania against ASWJ. The conditions for a deal Mozambique’s government was contemplating
are already favourable, in some respects. Tanza- any sort of arrangement with Tanzania along
nian troops have already been stationed near the these lines. But it ought to consider doing so,
border, which lies just north of the areas where regardless of what SADC does next. ™

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