President Cyril Ramaphosa is in an urgent meeting with his Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapsia-Nqakula today following his announcement that he’s sent troops to Mozambique to evacuate South Africans trapped there by ISIS-affiliated jihadis fighting government forces.

At least on South African died in the Islamist attack on the town of Palma in the north of Mozambique earlier this week.

The palm-fringed fishing town was regarded as a safe zone in the violence plagued Cabo Delgado Province  which has one of the largest liquified natural gas projects on the planet.

subhead Total staff withdrawn

The French energy company Total, which has a primary involvement in the development, has withdrawn its staff from Palma.

Ramaphosa spoke about detaching the troops while attending a wreath-laying ceremony for the late Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

He did not specify how many South African soldiers had been sent into Mozambique, nor did he say how many South Africans were still in Cabo Delgado.

The terror campaign which began in 2017 with machete-wielding fighters claiming they had been marginalized in the search for gas riches, has become a sophisticated, foreign-financed operation that has seen more than 1500 local villagers killed and more than half a million displaced.

Seven people, including the South African Adrian New were killed in the latest jihadi attack.

subhead Trapped in hotel

At least 180 people who sought shelter in the Amarula Hotel in Palma are believed to be trapped there.

Forty three South Africans who were missing after the attack have been accounted for.

Hundreds have been taken by boat from Palma to the provincial capital of Pemba .

It is not possible to ascertain the condition of those trapped because the terrorists have cut communication lines to Palma. The last telephone contact there was on Wednesday.

The United States has sent a detachment of special forces to Mozambique to provide anti-insurgency training to government forces.

Portugal has made a similar offer to its former colony as has the European Union.

subhead Multilateral military assistance

Mozambique which has shown itself to be incapable of containing the insurrection initially asked neighboring ,South Africa for military assistance. Ramaphosa declined saying the country’s national defence force it was not able to acting unilaterally in conflict of this magnitude.

His hand has been forced by his nationals, mostly involved in the gas project, becoming imperiled.

There is no indication how long the South African troops will remain in Mozambique

Both the African Union and the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) have discussed providing multilateral military assistance to Mozambique. However, they do not have the financial means to do this without help from the United Nations or Western powers.

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Analysts fear that,  like Al Shabaab, the terror group will use relatively soft targets in Africa to show it is still operational.

So-called Islamic State has made its deadly presence felt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Mozambique, Mali and Burkina Faso.

The news portal Defence Web says this should of concern to South Africa’s National Defence Force which might be called in to protect neighbors from the Southern African Development Community.

The ISIS fighters have not been flown in to African locations. They have come in smaller numbers escaping fighting in Syria and Iraq, bringing with them experience, skills, techniques and tactics.

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Peter Mutharika, seeking a second final term at the helm faces tough competition from his vice president Saulos Chilima and Lazarus Chakwera, who has been endorsed by former president Joyce Banda.

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Fresh from heading the SADC observation team to South Africa’s election last week, Zambia’s Foreign Minister Joseph Malanji is leading the regional observers to the Malawi poll.

He says the 39-person team will apply SADC’s revised guidelines on monitoring to check on the election.

Officials concede that transportation of voting materials and officials to polling stations poses a logistical problem along with speedily moving the results back to the election commission for final scrutiny and announcing  the outcome.

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Neighbouring Namibia’s President Heine Geingob, in his capacity as SADC chairman, has tried to intervene in the feud between Khama and in incumbent Mokgweetsi Masisi.

As Botswana’s carefully nurtured image of political stability unravels, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has become the ruling party’s first leader to be challenged at its elective conference, which is due in May.

His response is to act against supporters of his predecessor Ian Khama, who accuses him of  taking the diamond-rich country backwards.

BPC secretary general Mpho Balopi confirms that 32 members of the party who attended a speech by Ian Khama, that was sanctioned by the party, have been summoned to explain themselves and face disciplinary action. 

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The move by President Donald Trump is a setback for efforts by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the regional grouping SADC to lift the punitive measures they say are hamstringing Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.

Washington says Zimbabwe continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. foreign policy.

So the sanctions imposed 15 years ago on more than 100 individuals and instances for human rights abuses are extended for another year.

Ridiculous, counters President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is among those personally targeted by the sanctions.

Zimbabwe has no history of aggression.

He had expected his re-engagement with the West and other warm gestures from Harare, to be reciprocated.

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Head of the country’s electoral commission, known as CENI says the country must be patient because he doesn’t know when those results will be made known.

The report by Human Rights Watch of irregularities and suppression of voting rights at the DRC election is at odds with regional grouping SADC’s finding that the poll had been relatively well managed.

Urging South African intervention, the watchdog  echoes the Congolese opposition’s call on Pretoria to ensure the DRC people are not cheated.

They say the delay is deepening their conviction that they have won and that the government of President Joseph Kabila is refusing to accept this. 

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The statement will please fellow United Nations Security Council members Russia and China but disappoint the Western members and human rights watchdogs urging the Congolese government to accept the defeat of its candidate.

South Africa officially accepts the findings of the regional observer group SADC that the Congolese election went relatively well.

But Western countries and human rights groups – who fear the government of Joseph Kabila is delaying things in a bid to manipulate the results – expected more leadership from South Africa that played a crucial mediation role in ending that country’s civil war and putting it on the path to democracy. 

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This after the SADC election observation team issued its report saying the poll had been relatively well managed.

Head of the DRC electoral commission known as CENI Corneille Nangaa’s told aspirants for the country’s presidency that provisional results of the election, scheduled to be released on Sunday, will be delayed.

That’s because less than a fifth of the tally sheets from around the country have reached the commission offices in Kinshasa.

He did not provide a new date for publication.

Authorities have blocked the internet in the Congo until the provisional results are made known.

The European Union, United States, Canada and Switzerland have told them to turn it on again.

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Kabila’s discussions with his SADC peers proceeded the rejection of Jean-Pierre Bemba as a presidential candidate in that poll.

Lindiwe Sisulu told journalists in Pretoria that DRC President Joseph Kabila has left SADC leader with the impression that the situation in his country is under control.

She denied media  reports that Kabila’s rejected former President Thabo Mbeki as South Africa’s special envoy to the DRC.

The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation says in fact, government has brought Mbeki in to consult on matter relating to the Great lakes region given his considerable experience in these matters.

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Home from the SADC political and security summit in Luanda, he calls on all parties in the central African giant to ensure the poll takes places place peacefully and  credibly.

The six SADC presidents gathered in Luanda had a first-hand briefing on political developments in the DRC.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa reports: “President Joseph Kabila was here himself and he says they are moving fun steam towards elections on December 23.

Ramaphosa says the SADC leaders decided it was no longer necessary to send Namibian President Hifikepunya Pohamba as a special envoy to the DRC.

Good progress is being made implementing the December 2016 political agreement in Kinshasa on the election calendar.

The country’s independent  electoral commission is confident it can oversee the process.

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