Sluggish SADC Slammed Over Mozambique Islamic Insurgency
The Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe has expressed dismay over the sluggish Southern African Development Community (SADC) when the Islamic insurgency in Mozambique has seen violence and killings intensifying.
The coalition notes that as Islamic jihadists continue to rampage through the gas-rich northern region of Mozambique, killing and tormenting people, SADC leaders have been procrastinating on intervening to address the insurgency.
This came after humanitarian agency Save the Children indicated that children as young as 11 and their mothers were being beheaded in Mozambique. In one case, a woman hid, helpless, with her three other children as her 12-year-old was murdered nearby. Crisis Coalition spokesperson Marvellous Khumalo said:
We reiterate our position that the regional body must show muscle by deploying forces to stop this inhumane act as boldly pronounced by our 11 November 2020 statement after the beheading of more than 50 people in the village of Aldeia da Paz outside Macomia in Northern Mozambique.
The Coalition is convinced that Sadc has both a humanitarian and geopolitical responsibility to end this madness which has the potential for regional instability. We are appalled and disappointed by the seeming disinterest being exhibited by Sadc to decisively act on the insurgency.
Crisis Coalition observed that while SADC was yet to establish a viable way forward, the United States had already deployed Marines to help in the Mozambique situation and made high-level diplomatic engagements with Maputo over the insurgency.
The US is allegedly protecting its oil interests in the Southern African country.
Meanwhile, continued instability in Mozambique affects peace and trade amongst African states as Mozambique is a gateway into SADC or the Indian ocean.
Last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was ready to assist Mozambique in addressing the crisis.
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