SADC Troika meets to review terrorist attacks in Mozambique

By Jorge dos Santos*

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika on Politics, Defence and Security meets today, Tuesday, in Harare, to review the ongoing terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique.

The one-day meeting was requested by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, and attended by Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa, SADC President; Botswana’s Masisi, the next to chair the organization and Zambia’s Lungu, the SADC former president. Mozambique, the applicant, is currently Vice President of the organization.

At the meeting, the heads of state and government members of the SADC body troika will also review the current state of the political and security situation in the southern African region.

The attacks in Cabo Delgado have been ongoing since October 2017 and have already caused the death of over a thousand people. The Islamic state has been claiming the attacks, which has led the Mozambican authorities to declare that the country is in the presence of an external aggression perpetrated by terrorists.

The extremist group is intensifying the attacks and even controlling some areas located in Cabo Delgado, and in their demands they say they want to destroy the current local state and government to install another state with Islamic aspirations in the province.

The Mozambican army has faced serious difficulties in fighting the armed group and is counting on the help of mercenaries, especially the South African mercenaries Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), in the service of Zimbabwean Max Dyck, son of former Rhodesian colonel Lionel Dyck.

The armed men are today attacking northern Mozambique threatening national sovereignty, but observers warn that all of southern Africa is under threat because if they settle in Mozambique, the trend will be to spread their territory. Observers draw attention to the collaboration of SADC, the African Union even the United Nations before it is too late.

*jorgedossantosmz@gmail.com