Southern Africa May Fight Mozambique Islamists, NewsDay Reports

(Bloomberg) -- The Southern African Development Community is considering using a regional force to help end an insurgency in gas-rich northeastern Mozambique, NewsDay reported.

SADC leaders met it Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, on Monday to plot ways to help fight the Islamist militants, the Harare-based newspaper said, citing a spokesman for Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The bloc may use its so-called SADC Brigade to subdue the insurgency, it said.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has so far resisted outside help in fighting the insurgents who have aligned with the Islamic State. He faced criticism for missing a SADC meeting last month to discuss the violence, which has in three years left about 2,500 people dead and forced about 560,000 to flee their homes.

Another SADC meeting is scheduled for January to plan how SADC can help Mozambique stabilize its natural gas-rich Cabo Delgado province.

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