The Southern African Development Community has sent officials into northern Mozambique to assess the threat posed by armed groups and to determine a response. The mission follows a raid on March 24 on the coastal town of Palma, claimed by ISIL. Dozens were killed and more than
11,000 displaced following the attack, seen as the most serious yet in troubles that started in late 2017.

Six SADC presidents met in Maputo on April 8 to discuss the region’s response. They’re due to meet again on April 29. Their plan so far is to deploy a ‘technical team’. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the meeting also agreed to revive a so-called SADC brigade to intervene in the conflict.

Mozambique so far has been reluctant to accept outside intervention other than training programmes it has agreed with the US and Portugal. Under SADC rules a member state must request for the group to deploy the brigade.  Around 2600 people have been killed in the violence since late 2017 and close to 700,000 displaced in the gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado region.

The UN’s World Food Programme said Tuesday almost one million people are facing severe hunger in northern Mozambique.