SADC summit: What kind of support does Mozambique want for Cabo Delgado? – DW

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SADC summit: What kind of support does Mozambique want for Cabo Delgado? – DW

7:12 CAT | 27 May 2021

File photo: DW

What kind of support exactly does Mozambique want in Cabo Delgado? This is a question to which the government does not yet have a clear answer, analysts say.

At the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Double Troika which will discuss the insurgency in Cabo Delgado in Maputo this Thursday (27-05), South Africa is expected to push for military intervention in the north of the country.

International news agencies are suggesting that the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Naledi Pandor, will push for military intervention. In fact, she said last September that she would go to the United Nations to request military intervention in order to prevent the spread of radicalism throughout the region.

However, in the opinion of journalist Fernando Lima, “there is still no clarity, and there are different forces and with different opinions on this issue” within Mozambique.

“Mixed intervention”

There is a dilemma in the country, Lima says. “I am sure that President Nyusi, as he did in his way of dealing with Afonso Dlhakama, will bypass the conservatives, and there will be a mix of interventions in Mozambique,” he posits.

Speaking to the private channel STV, Fernando Lima argues that foreign aid must have support, so that it does not fall into the hands of the insurgents.

“We will have to answer the question included in the plans of the South Africans who said: ‘Very well, we will give military aid, but who will guarantee that it will not fall to the other side?’ Military aid has to come, but it has to come with the elements to support it,” he warns.

What kind of intervention is wanted?

Journalist and commentator Lázaro Mabunda says he has no doubt that it is not yet clear what kind of intervention is wanted in Mozambique.

“I think this is the problem, because the Troika itself has floated ideas that there must be a military intervention. But I do not think that Mozambique is prepared or is clear about what type of intervention it needs at the moment. I think this is the biggest problem,” he says.

Mabunda suspects that there are different ideas on this issue within Frelimo, the ruling party. “There is a group that talks about the military issue, but there is another group that thinks that a military intervention does not make sense,” he says.

“The president himself cites the example of Mozambique helping other countries, but he does not say how. But Mozambique also received help from some countries and, if we look at the type of support, it was mixed,” he adds.

Source: Deutsche Welle