Funding for the SADC Military Mission in Northern Mozambique (SAMIM) may be suspended after nearly two years of support in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado province.

According to the Defense WebAt the Troika Summit of the SADC Organ, the SAMIM leadership was instructed to begin a phased withdrawal from Mozambique in mid-December last year, followed by a complete withdrawal by July 15 this year.

In fact, the Executive Secretary of SADC, Elias Magosi, is visiting Mozambique to "supervise and assess the process of withdrawal and the exit plan for the province [Cabo Delgado]".

The decision to withdraw SAMIM from Cabo Delgado follows a decision by SADC governments in August 2023 to extend its stay for another six months.

SAMIM - the SADC Mission in Mozambique - was first deployed in July 2021 as a regional response to support Mozambique in combating terrorism and acts of violent extremism.

The imminent withdrawal comes at a time when there has been a drop in violence in northern Mozambique, where the country's insurgency is concentrated. According to the African Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), violence by Islamic militants in northern Mozambique fell by 71% in the last year, with 127 violent events and 260 deaths recorded in 2023.

"The forces managed to regain control of 90% of territory from the insurgents and expel the surviving militants to rural areas in the northeastern part of Macomia district, where they now operate in small groups without bases, carrying out random attacks on civilians," reads the portal, quoting the ACSS.

"Last year was marked by a drop of 80% in violence against civilians. This is particularly noteworthy given that violence by Islamist militants in northern Mozambique has always been distinguished by extraordinarily high levels of violence against civilians, which in some years exceeded 50% of total fatalities. In 2023, violence against civilians accounted for 23% of total fatalities. This included 53 attacks on civilians and 61 related deaths (compared to 286 and 438, respectively, in 2022)," said the ACSS in a new report released this month.

The question for next year will be whether this progress can be sustained, given the resilience of the militants in this region, the ACSS asked, and said that attention also needs to be paid to addressing the underlying grievances in the Cabo Delgado region that have been the drivers of instability. In addition, there are still 850,000 internally displaced people who have not yet returned to their homes.