The mission sent by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to northern Mozambique to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado has confirmed the death of two of its members in clashes on November 29 in the district of Nangade that resulted in the death of more than 30 suspects.
The Regional Operations Coordination Mechanism of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) has indicated in a statement that «the unfortunate incident took place on November 29, 2022 in the area of Nkonga village, Nangade district, during a contact with Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamaah terrorists,» a group popularly known as Al Shabaab.
He detailed that the deceased are two military personnel from Tanzania and Botswana and added that the clashes resulted in the death of more than 30 suspected terrorists and the seizure of weapons, ammunition and equipment.
The head of SAMIM, Mpho Molomo, and the SAMIM Force Commander, Xolani Mankayi, expressed their «heartfelt condolences» to the families of the deceased soldiers and reiterated the commitment of the force to «restore peace and stability in the province of Cabo Delgado (…) through the degradation of all types of terrorist activities and violent extremism».
The Mozambican authorities have highlighted during the last months an improvement of the security situation in the area due to joint operations with Rwandan special forces and troops deployed by SADC.
Thus, the Mozambican Minister of Defense, Cristovao Chume, assured in mid-November that the jihadist groups «do not have permanent bases» in the province of Cabo Delgado, before indicating that the jihadists are divided into small groups which have lost their positions due to the operations of the security forces.
Cabo Delgado has been the scene since October 2017 of attacks carried out by Islamist militiamen known as Al Shabaab, unrelated to the homonymous group operating in Somalia, which maintains ties with Al Qaeda. Since mid-2019 they have been mostly claimed by Islamic State in Central Africa (ISCA), which has stepped up its actions since March 2020.
