Emmerson Mnangagwa, in his capacity as immediate former Chair of the SADC Organ Troika on Politics, Defence and Security, is today flying to Maputo, Mozambique for a session of the SADC Extraordinary Troika Summit.
Mnangagwa is expected to meet with his counterparts, Presidents Mogkweetsi Masisi of Botswana as current Chair, Cyril Ramaphosa as incoming Chair for the SADC Extraordinary Troika Summit, and the host President Filipe Nyusi.
The SADC Extraordinary Troika Summit is expected to receive a full report of the Technical deployment which was mandated on April 8, 2021, to produce a needs assessment report on the terrorist activity in the Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique.
The technical team which was supposed to table their report before the Ministerial Committee of the Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security on April 28, 2021, but the meeting was postponed.
The Committee is already digesting the contents of the report before submitting recommendations to the SADC Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit tomorrow.
This is indeed a crucial meeting whose adoption of recommendations by the three heads of State is expected to immediately trigger an active response which could see SADC deploying comprehensively to deal decisively with the terrorist menace in Mozambique.
To signal its seriousness in tackling the matter, SADC convened a Double Troika Summit in Maputo on April 8, 2021, at which a communique was issued to signal regional commitment to end the insurgency.
“Double Troika Summit received a report from the Organ Troika on the security situation in Mozambique, and noted with concern the acts of terrorism perpetrated against innocent civilians, women and children in some of the districts of Cabo Delgado Province of the Republic of Mozambique; condemned the terrorist attacks in strongest terms, and affirmed that such heinous attacks can not be allowed to continue without a proportionate regional response,” said SADC Secretariat in a communique.
The current harmonized efforts by the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security is aimed at preventing Mozambique from becoming another conflict hotbed in the region and continent at large.
This will have far-reaching consequences on the state of peace and security to the detriment of greater economic stability and growth.
The prevailing consensus and sense of urgency must be maintained to achieve the desired operational strength and effectiveness as well as to attract the necessary international goodwill.
These will be critical going forward so that a noble effort and initiative is not discredited.
SADC is driving Africa’s industrialisation agenda and therefore peace and stability will be indispensable imperatives for growing regional economies.
The Southern African Development Community region will have to attract quality investments to take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for sustainable economic growth.- state media