The Democratic Alliance (DA) has submitted a slew of parliamentary questions to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and the Minister of State Security, Ayanda Dlodlo, on the insurgent activities currently taking place in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado and what interventions the South African government has put in place to prevent the spread of the activities deeper into the region.
The brazen and indiscriminate attacks purportedly from the ISIS-affiliated Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASJW) group began to reach crisis levels in March 2020. According to various media reports, to date the insurgency has claimed more than 1 000 lives, displaced more than 200 000 people and destroyed an unidentified number of buildings and homes since first reported at the beginning in October 2017.
Less than a month ago, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula confirmed in written responses to parliamentary questions from the DA that the insurgency in Cabo Delgado was increasing. The Minister further confirmed that the insurgency has the potential to spread to other provinces within Mozambique and neighbouring states in the South African Development Community (SADC).
The Minister also revealed that there is a danger of the insurgency spreading to neighbouring states, and a regionally coordinated political and military approach has been recommended and plans are afoot to discuss and implement this approach.
The Minister’s responses are the first confirmations from Government regarding the nature of the challenges in Cabo Delgado and its concerns about the insurgency’s possible spill over into neighbouring SADC states.
The DA has submitted more parliamentary questions to the Ministers of Defence and State Security regarding the extent and nature of the insurgency in Mozambique, as well as the envisaged regionally coordinated political and military approach to the insurgency:
- Is the insurgency becoming increasingly sophisticated, coordinated and militant in nature?
- Which Islamist extremist group (group) is behind the insurgency? Who is supporting this group at both a local and international level? What is the group’s motive in this regard?
- What factors are contributing towards or fueling the insurgency?
- Are there any links between the insurgency and organised criminal activities such as drug trafficking?
- Are there any links between the insurgency and the offshore Total SA led billion-dollar gas project site situated 60 km south of Mocimboa Praia?
- What has been the response of the government of Mozambique to the insurgency and more specifically, the response of the military in Mozambique?
- Are private military contractors being used to counter the insurgency? If yes, who is making use of these private military contractors and will they continue to operate once the recommended regionally coordinated regional and military approach is concretised?
- What is the nature of the regionally coordinated political and military approach that has been recommended as a response to the insurgency? Which countries were involved in the formulation and articulation of this approach?
- When are the plans for the approach likely to be finalised and will these plans be made public?
The South Africa public needs the assurance that its government is taking all the necessary steps to mitigate the impact of the mounting insurgency in Mozambique and ensuring a well-coordinated approach is taken by all the potentially involved role players including our intelligence agencies and the Defence Force.
The DA reiterates its call on the Minister of Defense to urgently engage her counterparts in the SADC region regarding the insurgency in Mozambique.