Nyusi warns SADC to stay out of his insurgents war

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Mozambique’s Nyusi shuts door to foreign intervention in battle against insurgents

JOHANNESBURG – Mozambique has told the international community what support it needs to deal with an Islamic State-linked insurgency, but for reasons of sovereignty it will tackle some aspects of the problem unassisted, its president said on Wednesday.

Filipe Nyusi was speaking two weeks after an attack by insurgents on the coastal town of Palma, near natural gas projects worth tens of billions of dollars that are meant to transform the southern African country’s economy.

Southern African bloc SADC is holdings meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to consider a regional response to the insurgency, while the United States already has a small special forces team in Mozambique on a training mission.

The government has said dozens died in the latest assault, and aid groups believe tens of thousands were displaced. French energy major Total withdrew all staff from its Afungi site outside Palma when the militants appeared to be approaching, but the army has since said the town is secure.

“We know in which areas we need support and which areas are up to us, Mozambicans, to solve,” Nyusi said in an address broadcast on state broadcaster TVM that did not specify what issues he would seek international help for.

“Those who arrive from abroad will not replace us, they will support us. This is not about pride, it’s about sovereignty.”

No war could be won “if it isn’t clear from the beginning what can be done by the country itself and what can be done by allies,” he added.

Islamic State-linked insurgents have been increasingly active in the Cabo Delgado province where Palma is located since 2017, although it is unclear whether they have a unified aim.

Palma is now secure after the military killed a significant number of militants and cleared one final area, an army spokesman and a provincial official said.

“We have completed the clearing (of the town). It was the only sensitive area that we needed to clear… It is completely safe,” army spokesman Chongo Vidigal said in comments broadcast by TVM late on Sunday.

Armindo Ngunga, secretary of state for the Cabo Delgado province, told Reuters on Monday that the town of Palma was “under the control of the state”.

“There was significant loss of human life, infrastructure destroyed. But people are safe now,” Ngunga added.

Insurgents on March 24 attacked Palma, near natural gas projects worth US$60 billion that are meant to transform Mozambique’s economy. – Reuters