Moz deployment begins

By yesterday afternoon, regional authorities had been waiting on Mozambique to sign the Status of Forces agreement that would allow SADC forces to join the fight with technical, logistical and military support to the Mozambican forces. SADC, according to publicly available information, had wanted to deploy to Mozambique on July 15.

Frustration had been growing in SADC, which has engaged continuously with Mozambique, after Maputo signed a bilateral deal allowing Rwanda to deploy 1,000 soldiers to the battlefront last week. Western forces, including the United States, have already finalised military support to Mozambique, an act which, together with the Rwanda deployment, has been seen as an embarrassment to the region particularly as the SADC Heads of State Summit recently approved military support to Mozambique.