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International Security Experts Tip SADC on Mozambique Tension

International Security Experts Tip SADC on Mozambique Tension

International Security Experts want the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to address security concerns in Mozambique’s Northern Province of Cabo Delgado, saying failure to do so will cripple development efforts in the region.

The experts from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique say economic integration relies on the security stability of the SADC region hence needs to address concerns that are affecting other countries.

The experts have also accused Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi of not putting effort to address the vice.16 SADC member states are expected to meet in Maputo, Mozambique today to discuss issues of regional integration, development, cooperation and will also utilize the platform to discuss regional responses to the current security concerns in Mozambique.

In addition, SADC countries will tackle issues of food and nutritional security as well as the covid-19 global pandemic.

Malawi's Security and good governance expert Sheriff Kaisi has implored delegates to the meeting to find lasting solutions to the current security concerns in Mozambique saying there is a threat to SADC economic integration.

“What is happening in Cado Delgado is very important to tackle. The area is just 900 Kilometers to Malawi and this is likely to affect us considering our borders and the entire region,” Kaisi said.

Governance commentator Victor Chipofya Jnr suggests establishing a separate security entity within SADC would help improve the security situation in Mozambique and the entire region.

“It’s high time the SADC region would start thinking about having a standalone arm which will be able to help in terms of this insurgence,” he said.

With some suggesting that the unrest in Mozambique needs an exclusively SADC military intervention, Patience Rusale an Institute for Economics and Peace Ambassador in Zimbabwe says the Mozambique crisis has a big implication on the regional peace effort hence the need to initiate concrete solutions before the problem spills over to other countries.

“SADC should initiate a deepened dialogue with other regions and countries in Africa to better appreciate their experiences with stabilization efforts so that they avoid opting for policy responses that will result in them coming unstuck in a military confrontation that will have no end,” she said.

Rusale also stressed that the heinous attacks remain a violation of human rights bound to affect the region. “It has been more than two months now since that proposal was made, we need to find a lasting solution to this problem before this Cabo Delgado conflict spill over to Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, or even to South Africa,” she added.

During the April 2021 SADC Double Troika summit which was held in Mozambique, a communique revealed that heads of States agreed to resuscitate the force intervention brigade, to be deployed immediately to Mozambique with its main troops from Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa.

While hailing suggestions to have an intervention in the crisis, Dr. Craig Moffat a Security analyst in Mozambique has blamed Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, for not showing eagerness to address the problem.

“The Mozambican President hasn’t shown eagerness to have any response yet so it will not only affect Mozambique in the sense that country has problems and now it’s closer to other boarders and this problem is likely to spill over to other countries so there is that immediate concern,” he said.

Mozambican President who is also current SADC chairperson Filipe Jacinto Nyusi will chair the June summit.

There has been an Islamist insurgence in the Northern Province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique, with reports of attacks, kidnappings, and beheadings which has seen over 3 thousand people killed and dozens displaced.

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Last modified on Monday, 28/03/2022

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