Mozambique: SADC notes ‘great progress’ in Cabo Delgado mission – Watch

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Mozambique: SADC notes ‘great progress’ in Cabo Delgado mission – Watch

10:51 CAT | 20 Jul 2022

Screen grab: SABC News

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) highlighted on Tuesday the “great progress” by the military mission supporting Mozambique in fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

“I am pleased to highlight that the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) has made great progress in restoring peace and security in Cabo Delgado,” said South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, Naledi Pandor, speaking during the opening of the 24th Ministerial Meeting of the SADC Organ on Cooperation in Politics, Defence and Security, being held in Pretoria, South Africa.

According to the South African diplomatic chief, apart from the military mission on the ground, SADC is organising support programmes for local communities through the African Union’s Early Response Mechanism.

“These are efforts aimed at contributing to the ongoing reconstruction in Cabo Delgado, under the plan defined by the government of Mozambique,” Naledi Pandor added, highlighting terrorism as a threat that requires regional cooperation.

READ: SADC mediation efforts in Lesotho, Eswatini progressive and constructive: Pandor

“In addition, regional efforts to prevent and combat the proliferation of arms should be intensified and encouraged. In this regard, member states should strengthen and prioritise the implementation of the SADC protocol on the control of firearms, ammunition and other related materials,” she added.

On Thursday, SADC provisionally extended its military mission fighting armed groups in northern Mozambique.

The decision was taken during an extraordinary summit of the “troika” of SADC heads of state and government, meeting in a virtual format and in which Mozambique was represented by its president, Filipe Nyusi.

The provisional extension of the deployment of Southern African troops will last until the “appreciation and consideration” of SAMIM’s comprehensive report by the ordinary summit of SADC heads of state and government, scheduled for 17 and 18 August 2022 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed to recover areas where there was a presence of rebels. Still, their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as passage or refuge.

Source: Lusa/SABC News