Mozambique: Leaders of Southern African Development Community (SADC) seek action against insurgency

VOA News reported on 8 April 2021 that leaders from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe met to discuss the rise of violent attacks in Mozambique"s volatile north, which included a sophisticated attack in March which threatened the nation"s gas reserves. After two days of meetings between regional security officials and heads of state, the leaders of SADC called for "an immediate technical deployment" ahead of another high-level meeting at the end of April. Yonas Dembele, World Watch Research analyst, comments: "The government of Mozambique clearly needs outside help to combat the Islamist insurgency which has emerged since 2017. The attacks by the Islamic State-affiliated group has engendered a human rights and humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced and insecure. Legally, the SADC can intervene militarily in cases of intrastate conflict, like this one, but Mozambique has so far been unreceptive. However, if this insurgency is not dealt with soon, it has the potential to spill over into other parts of the country and potentially to neighboring countries. As has often been the case, Islamic militants tend to target Christian communities, and if this situation is not quickly addressed, Christians in Mozambique will suffer for it."