Mosambik

The European Union on Wednesday (3 November) launched a military training mission in Mozambique to help local troops fight a jihadist insurgency in its gas-rich north. More than 3,100 African, European and US soldiers have already been deployed to the southern African country’s Cabo Delgado province to quell unrest.

A visit by the executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Elias Magosi to troubled Mozambique, where the regional bloc has deployed a multi-national force (SADC Mission in Mozambique - SAMIM), serves as another indicator of the importance attached regionally to restoring peace and stability in the east African country.

On 23 June 2021, the Extraordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government approved the deployment of the SADC Mission to Mozambique (SAMIM). This post briefly examines two aspects. The first is SAMIM’s legal basis under international law on the use of force. The second is whether and to what extent the African Union (AU) and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should legally be involved.

The Council today adopted a decision launching the European Union Military Training Mission in Mozambique (EUTM Mozambique). The mission will support a more efficient and effective response by the Mozambican armed forces to the crisis in the Cabo Delgado province, by providing them with training and capacity building.

[…] In a statement, the bloc said the meeting had “approved the extension” of the mission “to continue with offensive operations against terrorists and violent extremists to consolidate stability of security.” It did not give a timeframe for the extension.

In northern Mozambique, worrying reports emerged on Tuesday that children as young as five have been shown how to handle weapons and indoctrinated to fight with insurgents. The warning from UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, came as aid access improved to previously inaccessible areas in Cabo Delgado province.

Kagame was on his first visit to the country since the Rwandan deployment two months ago.He said the tr oops were ready to embark on another task of rebuilding and protecting the country.

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday announced that the country's armed forces, with the help of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, have reclaimed nearly all areas that were seized by militants in Cabo Delgado province.

Much has changed since the Ansar al-Sunna insurgent group in northern Mozambique captured the vital port city of Palma in April 2021. The setback, and subsequent withdrawal of Total Energy from its $20 billion natural gas project in the area, shocked Mozambique’s government after years of underestimating the insurgency, and failed experimentation with mercenaries.

The commander of the Mozambican army, Maj-Gen Cristovao Chume, on Monday declared that the capture by Mozambican and Rwandan forces of the town of Mocimboa da Praia from the islamist terrorists of ISIS was only "the first stage", and the next stage would be "to move forward and secure all the other remaining pockets of the insurgents until the Province is fully under government control".