Mozambican political analysts are apprehensive about the planned withdrawal, on July 16, of the Southern African Development Community Military Mission (SAMIM), which is helping to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado, because the Armed Forces of Mozambique (FADM) do not have the capacity to deal with the phenomenon on their own.

Meanwhile, the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, says that the country is already working, with different partners, to take this withdrawal into account.

The withdrawal of the SAMIM force, which has been helping Mozambican troops fight the insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2021, was announced a few days ago by the Mozambican Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Verônica Macamo, justifying it by a lack of funding from SADC member countries.

"In recent times, there has been a new wave of attacks, when it seemed that the terrorists had surrendered and this creates insecurity; several people have fled from Chiúre to Erati, covering a new area which is the province of Nampula. This is very worrying," says political analyst Ilídio de Sousa, quoted by VOA.

For his part, political analyst Frederico João says he is equally apprehensive about the possible departure, "given that SAMIM's strength has contributed significantly to halting the advance of terrorist forces and has helped the government to create capacities to combat terrorism, not only at the moment but also in the future."

For political analyst Calton Cadeado, if SADC withdraws it will have to share information, because if Mozambique fails it will also affect the countries in the region.

João Feijó, also a political analyst, says that the eventual withdrawal of the SAMIM force will be "very bad", because the Mozambican government continues to insist on a certain military strategy in the fight against the insurgency. Feijó stressed that "building a country in which problems are solved on the basis of military pressure, that country is unsustainable, the government doesn't have the resources to create a strategy against the insurgency".

However, the Mozambican head of state has already reacted and said that the government "is working with various countries and multilateral organizations to maintain the state and intensify the force on the ground, because the enemy is getting more and more aggressive and we think we have to be on top of them all the time".

Since October 2017, the province of Cabo Delgado has been attacked by insurgents who say they belong to the Islamic State. As a result, around 4,000 people have lost their lives and more than a million people have been displaced, in addition to heavy property damage.