The Malawi government has not committed to send troops to assist neighbouring Mozambique fight suspected Islamist insurgents who are wreaking havoc in the northern part of the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
The article in question, which was titled “Malawi set to send troops to fight Islamists in Mozambique mid-month”, claimed that President Lazarus Chakwera had pledged during an extraordinary summit of the security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that Malawi would deploy troops to help fight the Islamist insurgents in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
“The ministry wishes to inform the general public that the social media message in which these claims were made is false and creates expectations contrary to the spirit of the Summit,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the issue of troop deployment never came up for discussion during the extraordinary summit of the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation that was held in Botswana on November 27.
The ministry said regarding the security situation in Mozambique, the extraordinary Organ Troika Summit ordered the finalisation of a comprehensive regional response and support to Mozambique.
“This entails that no member of the Troika Organ committed to send troops to Mozambique as the support response is yet to be considered,” the statement said.
The attacks by the armed groups in Cabo Delgado, which began in 2017, has claimed more than 2,000 lives and displaced over 500,000 others.
JN/APA