The United Nations (UN) has welcomed an announcement by Mozambican authorities that the town of Palma had been cleared of ISIS linked militants and was once again secured.
The announcement follows an attack that saw several brutal deaths with tens of thousands of people internally displaced, at least one South African was killed during the onslaught.
A Mozambican military spokesperson announced that they had completed clearing the town of the insurgents.
UN Secretary General’s Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, was later asked to comment ahead of the SADC Troika meeting, expected to be held this week, on the situation in northern Mozambique.
Dujarric says, “We hope that this will lead to people being able to come back but there are obviously broader issues that need to be dealt with in this situation. The issue of terrorism in different parts of Africa is one that is well known. I think the increasing boldness of terrorism activities in Mozambique is very concerning…”
“Indeed, I think the violence they have perpetrated in civilians in Mozambique is truly atrocious and it has been condemned and needs to be condemned again and again. SADC has a critical role to play because these issues also need to be dealt with at a regional level, we know very well that terrorist groups operate between borders at regional and sub regional,” added Dujarric.
On March 24, non-state actor militants attacked Palma, leaving death, destruction and displacement in their wake.
Mozambique insurgency requires urgent regional response:
The international community is calling for decisive action to end the fighting.
Countries such as United States of America, France, Italy and Portugal have said they are willing to help Mozambique’s government.
The African Union (AU) has, however, warned against this move saying the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and AU must take the lead.
Discussing Mozambique’s humanitarian crisis:
