EU may help quell Mozambique attacks

A European Union-funded Southern African Development Community (SADC) intervention is expected to constitute what regional leaders this week referred to as “the standby force” to quell terrorist attacks in Mozambique.

This is according to Jasmine Opperman, an analyst with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, who was commenting on this week’s announcement by the extraordinary summit of SADC heads of state to deploy a “standby force” of soldiers from member states to fight off Islamic State insurgents in northern Mozambique.

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“While this is quite historic within the SADC, the funding of the operation, as well as who takes charge of command and control of the forces, is quite crucial,” said Opperman.

“President Filipe Nyusi will not compromise on the sovereignty of Mozambique on command and control to an external force. There has been a change in the president’s message in terms of support, saying SADC would be a preferential partner to support the Mozambican government.”

Opperman said this meant any regional intervention would be “subject to the command and control of the Mozambican military, with regional states participating in support of the mission”.

With logistics and numbers of troops to be deployed to still have to be thrashed out, Opperman said: “If we see boots on the ground within the next three to four months, that will be damn good, because it is a complicated process to get soldiers on the ground.

“In terms of funding we should … be looking at the EU, the main contributor to the [African Union]. The AU is standing back because it says SADC should take the lead.

“The EU has changed its legislation to allow the body to provide direct funding for these types of operations.”