The President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa has arrived in Mozambique to meet Filipe Nyusi.
Cyril Ramaphosa was invited by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi to the 53rd commemoration of the assassination of Frelimo’s founding president, Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane, on Thursday.
He also met troops from the SADC Mission in Mozambique (Samim) in his capacity as chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
Last month, the SADC met to extend the deployment of the troops, which began in July 2021. In a parallel effort, Rwanda deployed its defence force in Mozambique a month earlier. The troops are battling Islamic insurgents in Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have died in the conflict in the north since 2017 and nearly one million have fled its hallmark beheadings, arson attacks and kidnappings.
South Africa has deployed 1 500 troops to shore up Mozambican forces in the north, where Islamists last year seized large parts of Cabo Delgado province, home to some of the world’s largest natural gas deposits.
