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JOHANNESBURG. – The insurgency in Mozambique has forced the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika to hold an urgent meeting in the next few days to discuss the attacks and the security situation.
The meeting has been called by the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, who came to Zimbabwe last week to brief President Mnangagwa.
Masisi will convene the meeting in the next few days in his capacity as chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, and it is occasioned by the ongoing insurgency affecting the province of Cabo Delgado in the northern part of Mozambique.
President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that he deployed SANDF personnel to rescue citizens trapped in Mozambique
Ramaphosa said the SANDF is working hard in ensuring the safety of South African citizens. On Saturday, the Ministry of Defence said 50 South Africans who were trapped in Mozambique had been accounted for. The chairperson of the joint committee on defence Cyril Xaba said he was awaiting a deployment letter from Ramaphosa to Parliament.
The procedure constitutionally is that the president deploys the SANDF personnel and then inform parliament, the letter contains the number of deployed personnel, the reason for the deployment, the number of personnel, the period to be spent and the budget.
Xaba said in this case parliament will receive the letter this week since this was an emergency deployment.
According to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the security situation in northern Mozambique is deteriorating at an alarming rate.
“Attacks by violent extremists have claimed over 1 000 lives and displaced 250 000 people since October 2017. Infrastructure has been destroyed and citizens robbed of their livelihoods,” said ISS expert, Liesl Louw-Vaudran.
The Ministry Of Defence issued a statement saying that South Africa has expressed concern about the security situation and remain seized with the safety of South Africans in that province.
The ministry said SANDF is providing support to the South African High Commission with regard to the repatriation of those South Africans who want to return. – IOLNews.
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