The Southern African Development Community (SADC) called yesterday for the strengthening of the operational capacity of the regional military force in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

"The summit reiterated the call on member states to urgently respond to requests for critical capabilities to increase the operational capacity of the SADC mission in Mozambique," the regional leaders said, without giving details, at the end of a meeting in the Namibian capital, Windhoek.

At the meeting of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security, the presidents of Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also "observed" the ongoing investigations into the bodies burned recently in the north of the country, according to the final communiqué, to which Lusa had access.

"The summit noted the ongoing investigations being carried out by the SAMIM leadership following a disturbing video on social media depicting what appears to be SAMIM personnel burning people dead and reiterated that the public will be informed as soon as the investigations are completed, as communicated by the body's president on January 11, 2023," it stressed.

At today's meeting in the Namibian capital, a "minute's silence" was also observed in memory of the soldiers of the Southern African Military Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) "who lost their lives in the line of duty".

In the final communiqué, the regional leaders "expressed condolences" to the governments of the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republics of Botswana and Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania "and their families for the loss of their citizens", without giving details of the number of victims.

In addition to the presidents of Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and DRCongo, the extraordinary summit of the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security was attended by the heads of government of Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

The Republic of Mozambique was represented by the Minister of National Defense, Cristóvão Artur Chume, according to the final communiqué.

The meeting was also attended by the head of SAMIM's military mission.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been ravaged by a conflict since 2017 that has terrified the population. Groups of armed rebels have pillaged and massacred villages and towns all over the province and a variety of attacks have been claimed by the 'arm' of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in that region.

The conflict has already caused more than 4,000 deaths (data from The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) and at least one million displaced people, according to an assessment made by the Mozambican authorities.

Since July 2022, a military offensive by Maputo, with support from Rwanda and later SADC, has led to a climate of greater security in the region that had not been felt for years, and has recovered locations that were controlled by the rebels, such as the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since 2020.