BY LORRAINE MUROMO
THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has come under fire for not swiftly acting on the emergency situation of violent insurgent attacks in neighbouring Mozambique, with political analysts yesterday calling for urgent interventions as the killings have affected Zimbabweans.
This follows the violent insurgent attacks that have rocked the coastal town of Palma in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, with 12 victims gruesomely knifed to death, and among them was a Zimbabwean national identified as Nyasha Mugwagwa.
There are also fears that more Zimbabweans might have been killed after Foreign Affairs ministry secretary James Manzou on Monday said the Zimbabwean embassy in Maputo was assisting in accounting for affected Zimbabweans.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director Blessing Vava said they were greatly disappointed with the slow progress that the regional bloc was making in mitigating the terrorist attacks in Mozambique.
“We issued a statement on March 17, 2021 expressing disappointment over the apparent lackadaisical approach on the part of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security in coming up with a concrete plan on the crisis in the northern parts of Mozambique,” he said.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said: “Currently, Sadc is not doing enough, but since they are planning to do something we are yet to see how effective their intervention will be. The fear that we should harbour is whether Zimbabwe and Sadc will successfully intervene and not be boxed down in the Mozambican conflict.
“The insurgency in Mozambique might drag on for long and that will tend to have implications on stability, not only in Mozambique but in surrounding areas as well, particularly Tanzania, Malawi and even Zimbabwe.”
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MDC Alliance secretary for international relations Gladys Hlatywayo said her party stood in solidarity with Mozambican nationals as they recovered from the trauma.
Since the onset of the conflict in 2017, an estimated 3 000 civilians have been killed, 700 000 civilians have been displaced and more than a million people are in need of food aid.
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