Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa made calls in 2020 to have soldiers deployed to neighboring Mozambique to crush terrorists in that country. Zimbabwean soldiers form part of the foreign troops working with Mozambique’s army. Also, the Southern African Development Community SADC moved towards a sub-regional response against the Islamic insurgency. This initiative occurred when President Emmerson Mnangagwa was chairman of the SADC Organ on Defense, Politics and Security.
Troops from Zimbabwe and the Southern African region have helped stem an insurrection in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. The insurgency was a threat to regional security. The assistance from Zimbabwe and other African countries working with Mozambique’s army drove insurgents out of bases and took control of key towns. The roots of the Cabo Delgado civil war involve a complex mix of history, ethnicity, and religion, and the war was fueled by poverty and inequality. A January 2021 survey showed that many young men joined the insurgents in hope of gaining jobs.
Though many insurgents have quit fighting, small groups are still mounting attacks in parts of Mozambique, leaving hundreds of thousands of people displaced and unsafe. The war has been on since 2017, it has killed over 4 000 people including women and children. The war in Mozambique has been spoken less over the years because what most countries in the SADC region feared had been controlled. Control however does not translate to victory.
A new fight has arisen from the forgotten war, where Amnesty International has brought about an allegation of human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian laws occurring in Mozambique. These allegations stemmed from a video, believed to date back to November, which shows a soldier pouring liquid over a body.
More insight on the human rights infringements’ allegations are to be shared and published. The allegations brought about may cause instability amongst the forces that had united to restrain the insurgency. Though the threat has been greatly lowered these allegations brought about reveals that the war is not yet over.
Though the SADC countries and other African nations intended to end the war within a few years, while maintaining peace in their countries. The new incidence suggests that these new grievances need to be dealt with.
