The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has already established contacts with the Pretoria government for the European Union to strengthen cooperation with South Africa, taking into account that the terrorist threat has not yet been “completely eliminated” in northern Mozambique.
Josep Borrell’s spokesman, Nabila Massrali, said on Tuesday that contacts are already underway with the South African government to strengthen cooperation.
South Africa is a key player in a region facing a variety of political and security challenges. Nabila Massrali added that Brussels is “expanding cooperation on peace and security, in particular through EU support to the South African Development Community, the military mission in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique”.
“The terrorist threat from northern Mozambique has not been completely eliminated and remains a concern to us. But Mozambique and the Southern African Development Community and the Rwandan Armed Forces, with the support of EU military training, are developing a new model of cooperation,” he said . said.
Nabila Massrali says the cooperation with South Africa is part of a package of direct support to security in Cabo Delgado that Brussels has put into practice in 2022.
“Last year, the EU supported SAMIM’s construction activities [a Comunidade de Desenvolvimento da África Austral em Moçambique]with EUR 1.9 million,” the spokesman said, also recalling that in September 2022, the European Union approved “support for non-lethal equipment (…) worth EUR 15 million”.
During the visit to South Africa last week, the HRVP [Alto Representante para a Política Externa e de Segurança Comum] had political consultations with Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor and shared leadership of ministerial dialogues between the EU and South Africa.
The South African government already announced this week a meeting to take place on Tuesday with members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to discuss the situation in Cabo Delgado.
Since 2017, the northern province of Mozambique has been facing several waves of terrorism, with violent groups scaring the population with robberies and looting.
The estimated death toll is around 4,000, as a result of the various attacks by rebel groups. The attacks were claimed by the terrorist group the self-proclaimed “Islamic State”.
Source: DN
