The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Eswatini are five countries in Southern Africa that are due to hold elections next year.
Joint operations
Mozambique did sign an agreement in late November with Tanzania to launch joint operations to combat Al-Shabaab, as Nyusi has said some of its recruits and leaders are from the east African nation, which shares its southern border with Cabo Delgado.
But Jasmine Opperman, a South Africa-based analyst with Armed Conflict Location and Events Data, a violence monitoring group, has questioned how effective the collaboration can be against the terror group, and whether civilians will get caught in the middle again.
âWhat will be the cost of these limited cross-border operations given Al-Shabaab is likely to intensify its war on the back of its successes in 2020? Will we see more civilians targeted by both sides?â she wonders.