South Africa troops flown back from Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique

The contribution of South African forces, as part of the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) helping Mozambican forces in the fight against Islamist terrorists in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, is over, since the Presidential authorization on which the deployment of the South African contingent was based expired on Monday.

The farewell parade of the South African SAMIM contingent.

According to the DefenceWebplatform, the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) deployment in Cabo Delgado went by the code name Operation Vikela, and consisted of 1,495 personnel.

Most of these were from infantry units in the SANDF, supported by engineering and logistics personnel as well as members of the SA Air Force (SAAF) and SA Military Health Service (SAMHS), on active duty at any one time for the three-year lifespan of the deployment.

Ahead of boarding an aircraft bound for South Africa last week, SAMIM Acting Head J Shikongo Shikongo bid the South African soldiers farewell “at the end of a distinguished tour of duty” where dedication, professionalism and courage was shown in support of the Mozambican defence and security forces.

The first SAMIM contingent to withdraw was Botswana. The remaining six contingents (from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia) are set to leave Mozambique by July. That will leave only a contingent from Rwanda assisting the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) in resisting the attacks by the jihadists of ASWJ (Ansar al-Sunna Wa Jamma), also known as ISIS-Mozambique.

As the remaining SADC troop contributing countries (TCCs) move into exit mode the Rwandan contingent is increasing community policing and civil/military co-operation in Cabo Delgado. This follows reports of Rwanda preparing to increase the size of its contingent.

News24 reported the Rwanda Defence Force International Co-operation Head, Brig-Gen Patrick Karuretwa as saying Rwanda would increase the number of its soldiers and make them “more mobile so they can cover larger areas”. The Rwandans will, he said, train Mozambican soldiers “to occupy the places where SAMIM used to be stationed”.