Image: SABC

Faizel Patel – 28/11/2020

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Political analyst Jasmine Opperman says the  Southern African Development Community (SADC) is procrastinating in getting an integrated response to the insurgency ravaging parts of northern Mozambique.

Five presidents conferred for an extraordinary summit in the Botswana capital Gaborone on Friday from where they “directed the finalization of a comprehensive regional response” to the unrest in Mozambique.

They did not elaborate on what kind of response they were considering.

Militants terrorising the province for three years have in recent months accelerated their campaign to create a caliphate in the gas-rich region.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Opperman says there are two dynamics when it comes to the unrest in Mozambique.

“The Mozambican president did not attend this troika meeting, it was the minister of defence. We would have had a road map five months ago, we still don’t have it. The second issue is Mozambique. Clearly Mozambique is delaying at its level best. Any intervention from Sadc on home soil, still relying on own capability and capacity to deal with the problem.”

Opperman says there is a need for urgent intervention from SADC countries, but it is also caught in a quagmire.

“They do realise what is happening in Cabo Delgado, but at the same time their hands are tied because of the realization of constraints at domestic soil within each of the SADC states.”

At least 2,000 people have died and half a million have fled their homes since a shadowy militant  group began attacks in October 2017.

Listen to the interview with Jasmine Opperman