The Sources of Rwandan Military Effectiveness: State Building, Security Assistance and the Cabo Delgado Campaign

Rwanda’s mid 2021 military intervention meaningfully degraded the capability of the jihadist insurgents terrorising northern Mozambique. Rwanda’s early battlefield achievements were due to a combination of factors, including a suitable operational concept and strong infantry skills and combat motivation. These qualities were more a function of institutional history and internal state building, however, than of foreign-provided equipment or training; outside aid helped make the intervention possible but did not instil the critical drivers of Rwandan combat effectiveness. Because similar circumstances do not pertain in Mozambique, the prospects that the Rwandan armed forces can transfer the capability to prosecute a successful counter-insurgency to their Mozambican counterparts are dim. The Cabo Delgado campaign provides only a qualified vindication of American security co-operation and suggests important limits for western counterterrorism strategies predicated on African proxies.