AfricaPress-mozambique: The Mozambican government said on Thursday that the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) already have all the information necessary to decide on the type of support they will offer in the fight against armed violence in Cabo Delgado.
“Right now, conditions exist for each SADC member state to say how it can support the Government of Mozambique in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado,” spokesman for the Mozambican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, António Muchave, told a press conference.
Muchave indicated the SADC technical mission surveying the needs of Mozambique in the fight against the armed groups carrying out attacks in Cabo Delgado and the results of the SADC summits and ministerial meetings on armed violence in the north of the country as having provided a clear picture of the support needed.
“All information about Mozambique’s needs has been made available to member states,” he reiterated.
In this sense, he continued, regional partners were evaluating the type of aid they would offer, with the final decision to be taken at the organization’s next extraordinary summit – to be held in Maputo on a date to be set by June 20, according to decisions taken at the last meeting.
An Extraordinary SADC Organ Troika Summit that took place on 27 May 2021 in Maputo
agreed to convene an Extraordinary SADC Summit on 23 June 2021 to reach an agreement on the appropriate regional response in support of Mozambique.https://t.co/m2efVCkc61— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) June 10, 2021
Despite the emphasis on SADC mobilisation, “the fight against terrorism is a global challenge”, Muchave added, and it is in this perspective that the Mozambican authorities have mobilised support from other international partners.
“Terrorism is a global phenomenon and it must be fought in a way that involves all those who have the experience, capacity, interest and means to help confront this phenomenon,” Muchave noted.
Armed groups have terrorised the northern province since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadi’ group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has already, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, caused more than 2,800 deaths, and displaced 714,000 internally, according to the Mozambican government.
