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JOHANNESBURG. – Leaders of the SADC Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit and of Mozambique went into talks in Tswane yesterday 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.

The meeting was attended by the outgoing chair of the organ and Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi; incoming chair and Namibian President Hage G Geingob; and outgoing SADC chair and  President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi of Mozambique.

In his opening remarks, Mr Ramaphosa thanked Mr Nyusi for inviting SADC to contribute to the stabilisation of the region and added that the bloc will not tolerate terrorism as the insurgency had “the potential to affect the stability of the region and our people’s lives”.

He also congratulated the new SADC executive secretary, Mr Elias Magosi, on his appointment.

“The commitment, solidarity collective sense of community of members of the SADC were splendidly displayed by the generous support of member countries that contributed personnel to the SADC Rapid Force.

“There is no doubt in our minds that whilst progress has been registered in the operations of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), more ground will still need to be covered,” he said.

Mr Ramaphosa was “confident security in Mozambique will be restored”.

The deployment of SADC troops was subject to extension for further periods depending on the evolution of the operational situation on the ground. The SAMIM deployment was to be preceded by the deployment of the Regional Coordination Mechanism.

Mr Ramaphosa said the deployment started on 15 July and was due to end on 15 October. There is an option to extend the deployment.

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 neighbouring 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.– News24.com