Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican government and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Tuesday in Pretoria, South Africa, will assess how the joint military mission in Cabo Delgado has been performing, the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi said on Monday.
“Invited by the ‘troika’ of the body for cooperation in the areas of politics, defence and security of SADC, we will assess the commitment of the state force on alert [Southern Africa Mission in Mozambique, SAMIM] in the three months initially planned, about to end,” he said.
Nyusi was speaking during peace day ceremonies in Mozambique today, a holiday commemorating the signing of the General Peace Agreement in 1992 between the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).
Since July, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, which was later joined by SADC, allowed for increased security, recovering several areas of Cabo Delgado where there were rebels, notably the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since August 2020.
SAMIM arrived on the ground on 9 August and was fully operational on 3 September.
Joining forces from different countries, the mission serves a six-point mandate focused on supporting the Mozambican state to make the province of Cabo Delgado safe and provide air, maritime, logistical and military training support, the statement said.
The mandate also includes support for humanitarian operations.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but terrorised by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The conflict has led to over 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and over 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.
