The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is holding week-long meetings that will culminate in a virtual Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government to review the bloc’s mission in Mozambique on Friday.
Malawi’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, in his capacity as SADC chairperson, will chair the summit.
In a statement, the regional bloc said: “The summit, will, among the key issues, discuss the support for effective operation of SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) objectives to bring peace and stability in Cabo Delgado in the Republic of Mozambique.”
The SAMIM arrived in Mozambique in July 2021 after SADC member states, a month earlier, resolved to spearhead a regional response to Islamic extremists operating in Cabo Delgado
Since the start of the mission, SADC recorded and reported casualties of soldiers from Botswana, Tanzania and most recently South Africa. However, they had captured and killed insurgents and raided some camps and repossessed arms as they attempt to gain control and restore normality in the province.
In accordance with the SADC Treaty, the SADC summit was responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the community, ultimately making it the policy-making institution of SADC.
However, Rwanda, a non-SADC member, also had specialised forces operating in Cabo Delgado not reporting to SADC, a move that, in the past, had upset SADC.
On Monday and Tuesday, meetings of experts of the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC) to assess the defence situation in the region, particularly in Mozambique, were held.
There’s also the meeting on Tuesday of Senior Officials of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ which comprised defence ministers of member states.
On Wednesday, the Extraordinary Ministerial Committee of the Organ would convene and also the Extraordinary SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, hosted by its chairperson, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation comprised Heads of State and Government from Organ Troika members namely; Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and would be attended by the Republic of Mozambique.
Almost a million people have been displaced and more than 3 000 civilians killed since 2017 in Mozambique.
The humanitarian situation in the northern parts of Mozambique worsened, with terrorists taking up a scorched earth military strategy – vandalising schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure.
