ZIMBABWE will not individually deploy troops in northern Mozambique to fend off Islamic insurgents who have killed more than 2 500 people and displaced 700 000 others in the country, the government says.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday as Harare has come
under growing pressure to dispatch soldiers to Cabo Delgado to help manage the
situation and to safeguard its economic interests, presidential spokesperson
George Charamba said Zimbabwe would only get involved as part of a Sadc force.
This comes as the violent armed rebellion in Mozambique is
getting worse, amid growing concerns that Zimbabwe and other regional countries
are at risk on a number of fronts, unless Sadc deploys troops there to quell
the insurgency.
“It (any intervention) must be a Sadc initiative. Why
should Zimbabwe deploy alone? It needs all Sadc countries like what (Botswana)
President Mokgweetsi Masisi told you (the media).
“He is the chairman of the organ on politics, defence and
security cooperation. It’s a regional question and it will require a regional
response. There is no time for single heroism. We work as a region,” Charamba
said
Masisi was in Harare on Wednesday where he met Mnangagwa to
discuss, among other things, the deteriorating situation in Cabo Delgado.
The two leaders said Sadc would soon come up with a robust
response to the calamity facing Mozambicans.
Charamba also rubbished reports that Zimbabwe had already
secretly deployed its soldiers to Cabo Delgado, where the insurgents are
causing untold civilian suffering.
“We dismiss those rumours coming from non-military persons
who have no clue in terms of operations,” he said.
After meeting Mnangagwa — the immediate past chairperson of
the Sadc organ on politics, defence and security — Masisi said the regional
bloc would soon respond firmly to the Mozambican crisis.
Mozambique, which assisted Zimbabwe during the liberation
struggle, has since 2017 faced insurgents in its northern province of Cabo
Delgado.
This has resulted in violent raids on government buildings
and villages by militias with suspected links to the Islamic State.
Last week, the Islamists launched a surprise assault on
Palma town, attacking shops, banks and a military barrack.
Hundreds of people fled the fighting, running into forests,
mangroves or nearby villages. About 180 foreign and local gas workers took
refuge in Amarula Palma Hotel.
Zimbabwe’s military intervened in the previous Renamo
insurgency in the country in which the United Nations estimates 16 million
civilians died.
Zimbabwe imports its fuel through the Mozambican port of
Beira, which is delivered into the country via a pipeline that was built in the
1980s.
Besides fuel, Zimbabwe also receives some of its key
imports through Mozambican ports. Political analysts who spoke to the Daily News
recently said Sadc needed to assist Mozambique urgently, to stop the violent
insurgency in Cabo Delgado — to bring relief to tens of thousands of people
there who are in dire need of help, while preventing the mayhem from spilling
over into neighbouring countries.
The number of incidents in Cabo Delgado has escalated
dramatically lately, with helpless communities being caught between government
responses and the attacks by the insurgents, some of which the Islamic State
has claimed responsibility for.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred
Masunungure, told the Daily News that it was strategic for Zimbabwe to take an
active role in the crisis — on account of the country’s socio-economic and
security interests which were increasingly becoming threatened by the worsening
events in Mozambique.
“The Mozambique situation is of concern to Zimbabwe both
directly and indirectly on a number of fronts.
“Indirectly because like we have seen in Nigeria, the
moment you mention Islamists, investors inevitably shun the region. They will
not want to invest in Sadc when there are insurgents wreaking havoc.
“The crisis affects Zimbabwe directly because the Beira oil
pipeline is the country’s economic life-blood and hence it is prudent for
Harare to play a critical role in ensuring that peace prevails in Cabo Delgado
— as long as the military intervention is in the context of a regional effort,”
Masunungure said.
“There is also the issue of refugees flocking into
Zimbabwe, as was the case during the Renamo disturbances — although this time
around there is some distance from the conflict region.
“The issue of refugees will be of serious concern to the
country because it will likely affect Zimbabwe the most,” he added.
But world politics expert, Stephen Chan, called for a
cautious approach that should involve both military force and diplomacy if Sadc
was entertaining any hopes of establishing lasting peace in Mozambique and the
region.
“These insurgencies, as we have seen in northern Nigeria
and Somalia, are complex and cannot be crushed by military force alone.
“Any military effort must be combined with a highly
sympathetic mediation effort. The two must work hand in hand, and the mediators
need to have expert Islamic credentials.
“If only force is used, particularly heavy-handed force,
and Zimbabwean troops are involved, then yes, Zimbabwe may expect the same sort
of retaliation that Kenya saw — attacks on civilian shopping malls by suicide
bombers and gunmen and, indeed, as in Nairobi, gunwomen,” Chan told the Daily
News.
Recently, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Michelle Bachelet, called for urgent measures to protect civilians who are at
the mercy of marauding armed groups in Mozambique.
The call came in the face of reports of dozens of people
being beheaded by the Islamist militants in recent months — a development that
has sent thousands of people fleeing by land and by sea, while others allegedly
remain trapped in conflict areas, with many forced to hide in the bush for
days.
Through her spokesperson Rupert Colville, the UN
Commissioner said people trapped in areas of conflict, as well as many of those
displaced across the province, barely had any means of surviving and that some
areas had been without humanitarian aid for more than six months.
“Those who remain have been left deprived of basic
necessities and are at risk of being killed, sexually assaulted, abused,
kidnapped, or forcibly recruited by armed groups. And, those that flee may die
in the process.
“There also have been reports of human rights violations
committed by Mozambican security forces in recent years, including extrajudicial
killings, ill-treatment, use of force violations, arbitrary detentions,
including of journalists, and unlawful restrictions on the freedom of
movement,” Colville said Daily News
0 comments:
Post a Comment