By Louis Kolumbia
Dar es Salaam — The
Southern African People's Solidarity Network (SAPSN) has called upon
peace-loving citizens in the Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) to stand in solidarity
with the people of Mozambique as the
country deals with multiple and overlapping crises, including military
conflicts and religious extremism.
SAPSN also
instructed citizens in the region to stand in solidarity with citizens
in the United Republic of Tanzania as the country holds its General
Election on October 28 this year.
The network made
the calls during the Sadc Peoples' Summit, an annual regional gathering
of articulated social movements and progressive groups in the Southern
African region.
The summit held its
meetings through virtual platforms from August 18 to August 21, this
year under the theme 'SADC @40: Towards a People Centred-Post Covid
Recovery Plan.'
The summit came up
with several declarations - including the call for increased support in
the country's struggle in the war against extremisms that has wreaked
havoc in the northern part where it borders with Tanzania.
The country is also
fighting other vices, including drug trafficking, serious human rights
violations and democratic reversals, as well as the unaccountable
plunder of natural resources by vested local and foreign interests.
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"We understand that
the growing conflict in Northern Mozambique is ultimately the result of
extra-activism and theft of natural resources at the cost of the local
small-scale food producers, including farmers, fisher folks, livestock
holders, herders, and host communities," reads the SAPSN declaration in
part.
The declaration,
which was submitted to the Sadc heads of state, demands that citizens in
the Sadc region also stand in solidarity with Tanzanians who elect the
president, parliamentarians and councillors in the General Election next
October.
"As they prepare to
exercise their democratic and constitutional rights to determine their
own future during the General Election scheduled for October 28 this
year, we call for a democratic, free and fair elections in Tanzania,"
the declaration states.
In May this year,
Tanzania deployed troops to its border with Mozambique to boost security
after insurgents launched attacks in the northern Mozambican province
of Cabo Delgado.
In February this
year, the group attacked security forces and civilians in Cabo Delgado,
killing people, destroying properties and seizing firearms and
ammunition.
In April,
extremists reportedly massacred at least 50 people in Muidumbe District
when they over-ran the district's capital Namacunde and occupied the
district police command.
Media reports say
the United Nations has recorded 28 attacks in the area since the
beginning of 2020, which killed up to 400 people and displaced at least
100,000 others.
The minister of
State in the Prime Minister's Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs,
Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama, said
Tanzanian troops were dispatched to the area despite the fact that it
was generally calm on the Tanzanian side of the common border.
Ms Mhagama was
requesting Parliament to endorse a total of Sh2.1 trillion on behalf of
the minister of Defence and National Service, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi for
the 2020/21 financial year.
On that day, Dr
Mwinyi, who was attending to other government responsibilities, saying
troops have been dispatched to the border close to Mtwara Region to
contain security threats posed by Al Sunnah wa Jama'ah (ASWJ)
insurgents.
"March this year,
the government dispatched troops to Msimbati and Sindano areas in Mtwara
as well as Chiwindi in Nyasa District, Ruvuma Region, in order to
strengthen security along the country's 1,536-kilometre borders with
Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia," she said.
Media reports from
Mozambique say the insurgency was part of a struggle for the control of
Cabo Delgado's oil, gas and mineral riches.
Ms Mhagama said the
request for approval of Sh2.141 trillion for 2020/21 which is Sh286.997
billion (15.4 percent) more than the Sh1.854 trillion endorsed for
2019/20.
She said Sh1.977 tril-lion was for recurrent expenditure, while Sh164 billion was the minis-try's development budget.
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