Mozambique: SADC mission stays in Cabo Delgado during assessment

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Mozambique: SADC mission stays in Cabo Delgado during assessment

12:31 CAT | 05 Feb 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. Members of Combat Team Bravo conducting patrols in Pangane, along the Northern Mozambican Coast. [File photo: SADC Mission in Mozambique - SAMIM]

The international SAMIM mission of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), providing military support to Mozambique against terrorism, is still on the ground in Cabo Delgado while evaluations are underway, a source from the organisation told Lusa on Monday.

“The SADC mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) is still in place in Cabo Delgado, and more information will only be provided after the ongoing evaluations,” said an official source from the organisation in a written response to a question from Lusa.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit approved in August the extension of the mission in Cabo Delgado for 12 months, until July 2024, with a plan for the progressive withdrawal of forces from the eight countries in the region that make up the organisation.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency, which has flared up again since December with several attacks on the population and armed forces, has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda, with more than 2,000 troops, and the SADC, liberating districts near the gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The same official SADC source recalled that SAMIM’s mandate included supporting Mozambique “in the fight against terrorism and acts of violent extremism” in Cabo Delgado, “neutralising the terrorist threat and restoring security, in order to create a safe environment, strengthen and maintain peace and security, restoring law and order in the affected areas”.

“And supporting Mozambique, in collaboration with humanitarian agencies, to continue providing humanitarian aid to the population affected by terrorist activities, including internally displaced persons,” the SADC source added.

The SAMIM mission comprises troops from eight SADC contributing countries, namely Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, “working in collaboration with the Mozambique Armed Defence Forces and other troops deployed to Cabo Delgado”.

On 22 November, Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi called for decisions on the capacity of the Armed Forces in Cabo Delgado to respond, namely with reservists, in view of the planned withdrawal of foreign forces supporting the terrorist groups on the ground.

“Concrete decisions on the response capacity of the Armed Forces in relation to their action in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado in the period after the withdrawal of friendly forces from SAMIM and Rwanda,” he appealed, speaking in Maputo at the opening of the XXIV Coordinating Council of the Ministry of National Defence.

“To this end, your reflection should also assess how best to capitalise on the wealth of reservists, committing them directly or indirectly to various missions for the defence of our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. And the current reality justifies it,” he added, giving as an example the former combatants of the liberation struggle, who “are still useful, even after 40 years”.

The conflict has displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa