The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Elias Magosi, has called for strategies to consolidate the achievements in the fight against terrorism in Mozambique, warning about the risk of terrorist actions spreading to other parts of the region.
“It is necessary to continue strategising and working collectively to improve and consolidate the achievements in the area of regional peace and security since the dynamics of acts of terrorism, and violent extremism are constantly changing and have potential spillover effects,” said Elias Magosi, quoted in a SADC statement issued after the Extraordinary Ministerial Committee of the SADC Organ Troika, held on Sunday in Pretoria, South Africa.
Besides advocating strategies to consolidate the achievements made by the forces of the Southern African Development Community Military Mission (SAMIM, in English) in Cabo Delgado, the ministers of the organisation’s member countries highlighted the need for a holistic approach, which includes actions to support the populations affected by the conflict.
“The ministers directed the head of SAMIM, supported by the Force Headquarters and the Regional Coordination Mechanism, to coordinate humanitarian assistance in the mission area to facilitate support to internally displaced persons and continue to provide security to organisations delivering humanitarian assistance, particularly in hard-to-reach areas,” the SADC statement added.
During the meeting, chaired by the South African minister of international relations and cooperation in her capacity as Chairperson of the Committee, Naledi Pandor, the ministers of the SADC member countries also welcomed “the European Union’s financial support to SAMIM under the African Union’s Early Response Mechanism, which focuses on non-military interventions.”
Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has allowed areas where there was a rebel presence to recover. Still, their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as a passage or temporary refuge.