The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) works to keep Americans safe at home by countering international crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad. INL helps countries deliver justice and fairness by strengthening their police, courts, and corrections systems. These efforts reduce the amount of crime and illegal drugs reaching U.S. shores.
INL provides foreign assistance funds to Mozambique to address criminal justice, transnational crime, and counternarcotic challenges by building capacity to combat corruption and enforce the rule of law.
Challenges: Since the end of its civil war in the early 1990s, Mozambique has made great strides in becoming a peaceful and stable nation, but the country faces growing criminal justice challenges, violent extremism, transnational crime, and illicit trafficking. Violent extremists continue to conduct increasingly brazen and sophisticated attacks on civilians and security forces in the North. Mozambique is increasingly exploited as a base of operations by transnational organized crime networks as a transshipment point for illicit drug trafficking and international money laundering and is also a source and transit point for illegal logging and wildlife trafficking. As Mozambican authorities seek to provide security and justice, widespread corruption undercuts service delivery and accountability and allows money laundering and financial crime to persist.
Goals: To address Mozambique’s criminal justice, transnational crime, terrorism, and narcotic trafficking challenges, INL’s assistance programs focus on building capacity in government institutions that have demonstrated a commitment to disrupting transnational organized crime and enforcing the rule of law. Strengthening democratic governance in Mozambique benefits the United States by reducing transnational criminality and its negative impact on development and rule of law.
Accomplishments:
- INL is working with Mozambique’s law enforcement authorities to disrupt transnational organized crime, focused on maritime security and countering narcotics and wildlife trafficking. Mozambique benefits from INL’s regional program with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to build the capacity of civilian maritime law enforcement agencies to disrupt transnational organized crime at sea through effective patrolling; developing the capacity of the judicial system to pursue legal due process in maritime crime cases; and increasing regional cooperation.
- Under the Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT), INL plans to provide support to effectively prosecute and investigate terrorism cases in northern Mozambique, which threaten regional stability and other U.S. economic and political interests.