Southern African leaders postpone summit on Mozambique insurgency
Thursday April 29 2021
An internally displaced man gestures as he arrives in Pemba on April 1, 2021, from the boat of evacuees from the coast of Palma, Mozambique. PHOTO | ALFREDO ZUNIGA | AFP
Summary
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, chairperson of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa could not make it to Mozambique for the crucial talks.
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Southern African leaders have postponed an extraordinary meeting that was to discuss a plan to deploy troops to counter insurgency in Mozambique.
The meeting between leaders of Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique, that was scheduled for Thursday, was to receive a report from a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) security assessment team that recommended the immediate deployment of a 3000-strong rapid response force in the Cabo Delgado region.
The East African
Tuesday April 06 2021
Internally displaced people from Palma gather in the Pemba Sports center to receive humanitarian aid in Pemba on April 2, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
Summary
Stranded in the bush with little access to food or water, some of the escapees headed south but others walked north to the Tanzanian border.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it had received reports that around 600 Mozambican asylum seekers who crossed into Tanzania had been pushed back across the border.
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The United Nations raised the alarm on Monday over reports that Tanzania forcibly returned hundreds of Mozambicans fleeing jihadist raids last month.