President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned home full of praise for the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) which he claimed has gained the upper hand against an insurgency in the country’s northern Cabo Delgado province.
Ramaphosa on Tuesday chaired the SADC organ on politics, defense, and security cooperation meeting to hear a progress report on the work of the military mission in Maputo, the Mozambican capital.
Following the appraisal of the tabled report, the president said there had been “notable successes” in the fight against terrorism in Mozambique where the insurgents have been on the run having lost the military initiative to launch raids.
SAMIM in recent months says it has realised spectacular successes against the insurgents, recapturing villages, neutralizing rebel bases and seizing weapons and military hardware.
It said this has downgraded the capability of the insurgents and allowed previous flashpoint to enjoy relative peace and safer passage of humanitarian aid to those affected by the insurgency.
SADC had expressed confidence in the capability of SAMIM troops to restore normalcy to the volatile province and facilitate the return of internally displaced persons to their home.
The South African leader said, the SADC extraordinary organ summit had directed the head of the mission to coordinate with Maputo to implement the comprehensive Integrated Reconstruction and Development Plan of Cabo Delgado province.
“The ministerial committee of the organ also directed SADC secretariat to convene a meeting to develop the SAMIM exit strategy,” the president said.
He added: “We wish to express our appreciation and commend the work of SAMIM on the ground.”
“I equally appreciate and commend member states for having deployed personnel and equipment to support our work in Mozambique,” Ramaphosa said.
Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and host Mozambique are the contributing states of the SAMIM.
Non-SADC member Rwanda is also playing a major role in fighting the rebels.
SAMIM troops were deployed in Mozambique’s restive Cabo Delgado in July 2021 as a regional response against the insurgency in the province.
NM/as/APA