Mozambique: President considers fight against terrorism, extremism ‘ imperative’ for SADC

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Mozambique: President considers fight against terrorism, extremism ‘ imperative’ for SADC

8:55 CAT | 18 Aug 2020

Photo: RM

The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, on Monday pointed out the fight against terrorism as a common need of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, noting the imperative of regional cooperation in the fight against extremism.

Filipe Nyusi emphasised the concern with terrorism during the closing speech of the 40th SADC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government, which took place today by virtual means, from Maputo.

During the summit, “the need to strengthen cohesion and cooperation among community member states in preventing and combating cross-border crime was emphasised, with an emphasis on terrorism in its various forms and manifestations,” said Nyusi.

The Mozambican head of state said SADC needs to ensure peace in order to achieve social and economic development.

“The discussions around the agenda items [of the summit] also underlined the link between peace and development,” Nyusi stressed.

The clarity about the intrinsic link between peace and development allows us to define the right strategies on how to achieve the sustainable development that SADC has been pursuing since its creation 40 years ago, he said.

Filipe Nyusi considered that the difficulties in the path of the organization did not prevent southern Africa to live in relative peace and within values of democracy and good governance.

The accent on terrorism at the Maputo summit comes at a time when the northern province of Cabo Delgado is the scene of attacks by armed groups classified since the beginning of the year by the Mozambican and international authorities as a terrorist threat.

According to the United Nations, the armed violence has led to the flight of 250,000 people from insecure districts further north in the province.

Mozambique yesterday assumed the rotating presidency of SADC, for the next 12 months succeeding Tanzania.

The summit was held under the slogan “40 Years Building Peace and Security, Promoting Development and Resilience to Global Challenges”.

SADC is an organisation comprised of 16 member states and was established in 1980 as the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) and later, in August 1992, transformed into the Southern African Development Community.

The organisation aims to promote the growth and socio-economic development of the region with the objective of assuming “a more competitive and effective role in international relations and the world economy”.

South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatíni, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the SADC member states.

Source: Lusa