Chakwera back home as SADC calls for ‘immediate technical deployment’ to deal with Mozambique Islamist insurgency 

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika heads of state  summit which Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera attended on Thursday  in Maputo said the acts of terrorism perpetrated against innocent civilians in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, could not be allowed to continue without a proportionate regional response.

Since 2017, an Islamist insurgency has raged in Mozambique’s oil-rich Cabo Delgado province.

The Double Troika Summit directed an immediate SADC Organ technical deployment to Mozambique, and the convening of an Extraordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ by 28 April 2021.

The meeting has condemned the attacks in the strongest terms and leaders who included  Presidents of  South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Hussein Ali Mwinyi the President of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, representing Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, called for “proportionate regional response.”

In a communique issued at the end of its half-day meeting, Sadc leaders said the insurgent attacks in the northern parts of Mozambique cannot be allowed to continue.

The summit  also “condemned the terrorist attacks in strongest terms.”

Chakwera, who is the incoming SADC Chairperson, has emphasised on the need for Malawi to remain steadfast in fostering regional peace for uninterrupted social economic growth.

Meanwhile, Reuters report that 12 people, possibly foreigners, were found beheaded behind a hotel in the northern Mozambican town of Palma following a militant attack claimed by the Islamic State.