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Mozambique back on Sadc radar

Local News
In a statement yesterday, the ministry said the meeting sought to find progress made by Sadc’s military force in pushing back Islamist terrorists.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

FOREIGN Affairs and International Trade minister Frederick Shava is in South Africa attending an extra-ordinary Sadc region ministerial committee meeting to discuss the Mozambique insurgency.

In a statement yesterday, the ministry said the meeting sought to find progress made by Sadc’s military force in pushing back Islamist terrorists.

“The meeting will consider, among others, the progress made by the Sadc Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) as well as draft framework for supporting Mozambique in addressing terrorism. Zimbabwe’s participation at the meeting will help to keep the country informed on current operations (SAMIM) and the status of its personnel,” the statement added.

Zimbabwe has deployed a team of 303 instructors to train Mozambique’s infantry battalion to fight the Islamist terrorists.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 1 495 troops, while Botswana sent 296 soldiers.

Rwanda was the first to deploy a military force to fight the terrorists.

On August 9, the Mozambican government regained control of a key port city, Mocímboa da Praia, which Islamist militants had held for two years.

The wave of violence in Cabo Delgado near the border with Tanzania came to the fore following an armed attack on police stations in Mocímboa da Praia in October 2017.

An estimated 3 000 people have been killed and over 850 000 displaced in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique since the conflict began in 2017, according to humanitarian agencies.

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