The Minister of National Defense, Cristóvão Chume, said on Wednesday (27) in Maputo that the intervention of the SADC Military Mission (SAMIM) revealed the need to move towards more robust legislation on terrorism and the exchange of operational synergies between member states.

"In addition, it broadened the understanding of the need to improve and make more flexible the legislation on terrorism, the exchange of experiences at regional level on the matter, as well as the vision that was held on the adoption of a holistic approach to combating terrorism and violent extremism," he said.

Chume was speaking during the opening of the "Conference on Lessons Learned for the Future: Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in the SADC Region", organized by the Directorate of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs.

On that occasion, he highlighted other gains from SAMIM's presence in the Northern Operational Theater, such as the return to their areas of origin of around 80% of the population displaced from areas previously dominated by terrorists.

"At the political level, the deployment of SAMIM has served to consolidate the cohesion of SADC member states as a regional bloc and has pushed for the best forms of cooperation to overcome the security challenges arising from terrorism and violent extremism, as well as the partnerships needed to restore peace and strengthen political and economic stability in our region."

"On a social level, the perception of the importance of Civil-Military Relations was reinforced, allowing for the exploration of lines of effort to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism."