Southern African states approve dispatch of troops to Mozambique

Published on : 06/23/2021 – 8:42 PM

Leaders of southern African countries have agreed to send troops to Mozambique. Meeting in Maputo, officials said they had taken this decision on Wednesday, June 23, to fight against jihadist groups which have been sowing terror in the northeast of the country for more than three years.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC, 16 countries) has “approved the mission of the SADC standby force to support Mozambique in its fight against terrorism and extremist violence in Cabo Delgado,” said at the end of an extraordinary summit the executive secretary of the organization, Stergomena Tax, without further details.

Territorial integrity and protection of the population

Groups known locally as “Al-Shabab” (“young people” in Arabic) have been reigning terror since late 2017 in the poor and predominantly Muslim province of Cabo Delgado, bordering Tanzania, with spectacular violence , setting fire to villages and beheading men.

Their attacks have been ramping up over the past year. But until now, President Filipe Nyusi has been reluctant to any foreign aid, insisting on the sovereignty of the country, independent since 1975. The army, poorly trained and equipped, had hitherto relied on private military companies .

The possible deployment of 3,000 troops had already been discussed in May, at a previous summit of leaders in southern Africa, but no announcement had been made.

“SADC’s support initiatives are an important complement to our country’s effort to face terrorism with, on the front line, our defense and security forces, which selflessly ensure sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the protection of the population, “Filipe Nyusi, who has chaired the organization for the past 12 months, said on Wednesday.

A “regional dilemma”

On March 24, a large-scale surprise attack on the port city of Palma left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced.

This attack, one of the most important since the start of the violence in Cabo Delgado, provoked the reaction of the international community and interrupted a gas mega-project of 16.8 billion euros, operated by the French Total and located just a few kilometers from Palma.

The Italian ENI, which has launched another gas project in the region, for its part assured Monday not to be affected and to be on track to start operation as planned in 2022.

President Nyusi has come under “enormous pressure from the organization to deploy these troops, as the situation in Mozambique is not only a local situation, it has also turned into a regional dilemma,” he said. to AFP Willem Els, of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

The International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, which recently urged Mozambique to accept “measured” external aid, hailed the move as “another step” in responding to instability in the region.

“Maritime operations”

During an official visit to neighboring South Africa at the end of May, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to “take part in maritime operations” off Mozambique, if the states of the region so requested. Portugal and the United States have already sent soldiers for training missions.

Leaders from South Africa, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe attended the summit in Maputo, with other countries represented at ministerial level .

Violence in the northeast of the country has killed 2,800 people and forced nearly 800,000 others to flee, according to the UN.

They have also caused a serious humanitarian crisis. At the summit, leaders called on member states to provide humanitarian assistance. Nearly a million people, most of them displaced, suffer from hunger, according to the World Food Program.

With AFP