The Southern African Development Community (SADC) through its Executive Secretary Stergomena Tax announced that the bloc had agreed on the deployment of troops to Mozambique to boost the country’s Counterterrorism efforts in Cabo Delgado.
The announcement was made after a one-day summit in Maputo where the 16-member bloc “approved” the deployment of a “Standby Force in support of Mozambique to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado”. The standby force is part of a regional defense pact that allows military intervention to prevent the spread of conflict.
While the statement was scarce on the deployment details, strength, and deployment previous information intelligence indicates that the force would be at least three thousand soldiers. Members such as South Africa have been advocating for the military intervention which has been met with resistance from Mozambique’s President who has maintained that foreign boots on the ground would compromise the sovereignty of his nation.
This is the first time that SADC has mobilized a CT force rather than the traditional peacekeeping force and as such the details and operation mandate is yet to be ironed out bearing in mind that President Nyusi is likely to be for the approach that favors the standby force as support for the for Mozambique’s security forces.
