The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is assessing the security conditions for holding the general elections on October 9 in Mozambique, the vice-president of the regional organisation’s Electoral Advisory Council said on Friday.
“We are going to meet with entities linked to [peacekeeping], in particular the Defence and Security Forces, to gather information,” said Jennifer Susan Shinga, vice-chair of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council, today in Maputo at the start of this mission.
Shinga was speaking at a press conference after a meeting with Mozambique’s minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Verónica Macamo, as part of a pre-electoral assessment that SADC is carrying out until 29 June on the conditions for the next general elections in the country, and will then produce a report.
She said that the minister of foreign affairs and cooperation addressed the importance of peace and security for the electoral process.
The SADC official said that the pre-election assessment mission will meet with officials from the ministries of the interior and defence to discuss the conditions for holding the elections.
The mission will also hold meetings with the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the diplomatic corps accredited in Maputo, religious leaders and representatives of the media, said Jennifer Susan Shinga.
The leader addressed the issue of security in the face of armed violence in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, where government forces, together with Rwandan troops, are fighting an insurgency classified by various national and international organisations as terrorist groups.
A SADC military mission deployed to combat armed groups in Cabo Delgado is meanwhile gradually withdrawing from the field, a process to be completed by July.
At the meeting with the deputy minister of the Electoral Consultative Council, the minister of foreign affairs and cooperation said that the pre-election assessment reflects SADC’s commitment to democracy in southern Africa.
“[We want] to emphasise SADC’s commitment to consolidating democracy, peace and stability in the region and in our country,” said Macamo.
The Mozambican government, she continued, values the initiative because it allows for the exchange of knowledge and experiences on “good practices” inherent in the consolidation of democracy.
“It is in the interest of the country and particularly the government that the mission is a success,” said Verónica Macamo.
Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential and legislative elections on 9 October, the second for provincial governors and the fourth for provincial assemblies.
The current president, Filipe Nyusi, who is also president of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), in office since 2014, can no longer run because he has reached the constitutional limit of two terms.
Source: Lusa
