Southern African bloc extends deployment of troops in northern Mozambique

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) –The Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced Thursday that it has provisionally extended its military mission fighting armed insurgents in northern Mozambique.

The SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) was sent last year to help Mozambique respond to the insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado which has claimed thousands of lives since 2017.

The decision to provisionally extend the mission’s deployment was reached during a virtual extraordinary summit of the “troika” of SADC heads of state and government.

The participants included SADC chairperson and Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi.

“The summit approved an interim extension of the SAMIM mandate beyond July 15, 2022 to facilitate continuation of its operation,” said a statement released by the presidency of Mozambique.

The mission's mandate was set to end on Friday, but the provisional extension will last until ”the review and consideration of a comprehensive SAMIM progress report by an SADC Summit of heads of state and government scheduled to be held from August 17-18, 2022 in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the statement added.

Chakwera said the extension of the troop deployment would prevent the mission from being compromised.

The SADC mission comprises mostly troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Botswana with a mandate of combating acts of terrorism and violent extremism.

Last month, President Nyusi said the rebels that were terrorizing residents in the northern region had been "weakened and were on the run" since the deployment of more than 3,100 foreign troops last year, including about 1,000 from Rwanda.