South Africa President Ramaphosa to attend emergency SADC summit

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa will attend Thursday’s high-level meeting of regional leaders following an attack by Islamic State-linked insurgents that killed numerous people, in the northern Mozambique town of Palma two weeks ago.

Talks on the crisis will take place in Maputo with the leaders of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe also attending.

The SADC summit will assess the situation and decide on possible interventions.

Ramaphosa said on Friday that the SA National Defence Force was evacuating South Africans who were stranded in Mozambique. At least one South African was killed in the attack and his remains have been returned.

The attacks have highlighted the growing insurgency in Cabo Delgado near the Tanzanian border where large multinationals like Sasol and Total are mining large gas finds.

SADC Executive Secretary Stergomena Tax said the meeting “will deliberate on measures to address terrorism".

–0– PANA CU/AR 7Apr2021