{"id":23003,"date":"2022-12-20T08:43:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T08:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique"},"modified":"2022-12-20T09:16:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T09:16:58","slug":"ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique","title":{"rendered":"LDF troops set to leave Mozambique"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The plug is likely to be pulled from the much-hyped Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) contingent\u2019s involvement in the regional SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) following the six-month extension of the assignment.<\/p>\n

This week finance minister, Thabo Sofonea, revealed on the national broadcaster that the continued engagement of the LDF in the operation could be terminated due to financial constraints Lesotho faces.<\/p>\n

Sofonea said Lesotho will not be able to finance her troops\u2019 prolonged stay in Mozambique. The mission was supposed to end in January this year but has been extended with six months by a SADC Summit held in Malawi last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is operating on a very tight budget,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mozambique crisis was not budgeted for but our support to the country is a priority and urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201d He said essentials needed to sustain the deployment include food, transport, military clothes and medication for the Lesotho troops in Mozambique, which he indicated are expensive and will not sustain the soldiers for a further six months \u2013 looking at what the army has now.<\/p>\n

He further noted that army aircraft that is currently being used in Mozambique could also be withdrawn as the country will need to use these in the coming elections.<\/p>\n

Sofonea, however, noted that Lesotho has assured the summit that despite Lesotho\u2019s possible withdrawal from the mission, the country remained fully behind Mozambique despite the financial constraints. SADC decided to extend its force mission in Mozambique to provide military support in fighting terrorism in the country\u2019s Northern region.<\/p>\n

This decision was announced in a communique by the body through Organ on Politics, Defence and Security chairman, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Wednesday this week in Lilongwe, Malawi, where the regional bloc held an extraordinary Summit and reviewed its mission\u2019s progress in Mozambique.<\/p>\n

The deployment is meant to support Mozambique\u2019s efforts in combating terrorism and acts of violent extremism orchestrated by non-state armed actors in Cabo Delgado, a gas-rich northernmost province bordering Tanzania.<\/p>\n

National army spokesperson, Captain Sakeng Lekola, speaking to Public Eye this week, said the decision to extend the troops\u2019 mission in Mozambique was reached by government and the army could, therefore, not have a say on the matter as it is a decision above them.<\/p>\n

Lesotho joined regional troops and contributed soldiers to the SADC mission in Mozambique; a mission formally launched on Monday August 9, 2021, to beef up Rwandan and Mozambican forces who were already engaged to retake strategic towns from Islamist insurgents.<\/p>\n

SADC countries are active contributors in United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) peace support operations with contributions ranging from military observers, civilian police and the peace keeping\u2019s \u2018blue helmets\u2019.<\/p>\n

A significant number of civilians are also serving in both the UN and AU operations \u2013 individually recruited. Lesotho has since deployment lost one soldier in the Mozambican operation, Commando Private Moalosi Joseph Khoaele, who succumbed to malaria.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The plug is likely to be pulled from the much-hyped Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) contingent\u2019s involvement in the regional SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) following the six-month extension of the assignment. This week finance minister, Thabo Sofonea, revealed on the national broadcaster that the continued engagement of the LDF in the operation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,246,245,393],"class_list":["post-23003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nLDF troops set to leave Mozambique - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The plug is likely to be pulled from the much-hyped Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) contingent\u2019s involvement in the regional ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LDF troops set to leave Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The plug is likely to be pulled from the much-hyped Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) contingent\u2019s involvement in the regional ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T08:43:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T09:16:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671513431.20.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"LDF troops set to leave Mozambique\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T08:43:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-20T09:16:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\"},\"wordCount\":499,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671513431.20.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ldf-troops-set-to-leave-mozambique\",\"name\":\"LDF troops set to leave Mozambique - 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