Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in Botswana where he is attending an extraordinary Southern African Development Committee organ on Politics, Defence, and Security Co-operation Heads of State Summit to discuss emerging peace and security situations in the Southern Africa region.
The President who arrived earlier of Friday, is joined by his counterparts; Presidents Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique and will deliberate on the threat of an Islamic insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique.
The meeting will also address the re-organisation of the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (UNFIB) in the DRC.
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President Mnangagwa touched down on Friday morning at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, where he was welcomed by the Botswana Defence Minister Patrick Mmusi.
Over 2,000 people have been killed, while around 430,000 have been left homeless in the festering insurgency affecting the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique since 2017.
The regional leaders will also discuss the re-organisation of the UNFIB, a multi-lateral military formation under the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (known as MONUSCO in French) which was authorised by the UN Security Council in 2003.
The FIB is the first UN peacekeeping operation specifically tasked to carry out targeted offensive operations to “neutralize and disarm” groups considered a threat to state authority and civilian security.