A technical commission from the policy, defence and security body of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been in Mozambique since last Thursday assessing the needs and the type of support that can be provided to tackle the terrorism plaguing the province of Cabo Delgado.

The presence of the group was confirmed by a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MINEC), who said that the team has already met the Ministry of National Defence to determine the next steps.

“The work of these experts will be done in strict collaboration with the National Defence sector, which is in a better position to present the real situation in Cabo Delgado, to determine the support that should be given to the country,” the source said.

The presence of this commission in Mozambique is one of the results of the extraordinary summit of the SADC Double Troika that took place in Maputo on the 8th and the 9th of this month.

The same resolution determined that this working group should prepare and present, at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ and the Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit, on the 28th and 29th of April, an operational report that will determine the intervention mechanisms or assistance that can be provided to the country to deal with terrorism.

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“The commission will assess the scale of the terrorist threat facing the country, in order to determine the type of support to be provided to eradicate the phenomenon that has plagued the province of Cabo Delgado since 2017,” Executive Secretary of the SADC Stergomena Tax said on the occasion.

The idea is that countries in the region help Mozambique to eradicate the phenomenon of terrorism, the SADC thereby contributing to the protection of its citizens and the achievement of collective objectives.

Stergomena Tax stated that, among other things, the Double Troika summit expressed full solidarity with the government and people of Mozambiquw, and reaffirmed the SADC’s commitment to contribute to efforts to achieve lasting peace and security, as well as reconciliation and development in Mozambique.

In addition to the Mozambican delegation led by President Filipe Nyusi, the event was attended by Botswana’s Mokgweetsi Masisi; Cyril Ramaphosa, from South Africa; Emmerson Mnangagwa, from Zimbabwe; Lazarus Chakwera, from Malawi; the president of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, on behalf of the Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu, and the Executive Secretary of the SADC, Stergomena Tax.

Source: Further Africa