JOHANNESBURG, South
Africa
Southern African leaders went into talks Tuesday to discuss the possibility of prolonging their military mission aimed at smoking out jihadists rampaging across northern Mozambique, the South African presidency said.
The Southern
African Development Community (SADC) deployed a three-month mission from July
15, part of a deal reached in June by the 16-nation bloc.
“The summit
will consider the way forward as the deployment to combat acts of terrorism and
violent extremism in the northern region of Cabo Delgado province comes to an
end on October 15,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a
statement.
Northern
Mozambique has been buffeted by Islamic State-linked militants who have
targeted towns and villages for the past four years, the wave of violence
claiming at least 3,340 lives and displacing more than 800,000 people.
The
extremist attacks escalated last year, culminating in March with coordinated
raids on the gas hub and port town of Palma which triggered the flight of
around 100,000 people, according to the UN refugee agency.
Dozens of
people were killed, some decapitated during the attack.
The violence
has disrupted major gas exploration projects and raised fears it could spread
to neighboring countries.
Under a bilateral deal with Mozambique, Rwanda became the first foreign army to deploy boots on the ground, sending in 1,000 soldiers, weeks before SADC.
Rwanda is not member of SADC and some SADC leaders questioned presence of Rwanda troops in Mozambique land before the bloc's army.
The total
force size of the SADC regional deployment has not been revealed, but South
Africa has the largest contingent of around 1,500.
At the
weekend, SADC said its forces had killed a local jihadist leader and 18
fighters during a military strike on one of their bases.
Aside from
host Ramaphosa, other presidents attending the talks are Botswana’s Mokgweetsi
Masisi, Namibia’s Hage Geingob and Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi.
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