Julius Malema believes that South Africa should deploy an army to Mozambique at the behest of the government to put an end to senseless killings.
Militants armed with rocket launchers, rifles and machetes began an assault on Palma town with a population of about 75000 people in Mozambique impoverished but the resource-rich province of Cabo Delgado on 24th March 2021.
This province has large fields of liquified natural gas but after its discovery, instability started in the area with different militants forming who have killed thousands of people so far.
Mozambique had a population of more than 31 million as of 2020 and the country shares a border with Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and the Indian ocean.
Julius Malema who is the leader of opposition in South Africa says that the South African government should send troops to Mozambique to stop senseless killings of civilians.
“It’s time for soldiers instead of beating up and killing innocent people and then claim to be powerful to go to Mozambique to fight ISIS and demonstrate their capabilities”.
He said that the Mozambique government must call for help and South Africa must be willing to help but said that a long term solution must be put in place like putting up a stand by command center of the African Union because when we experience matters like this, we should have the capacity to immediately intervene and deal with such.
He said that there is a sponsored war in Mozambique with the aim of destabilizing Mozambique so that they can take gas without paying taxes.
“They want to take gas for free because, in absence of functional government in the country where rebels are ruling, they will just come and take gas and not grow Mozambique”.
“We see it as what it is, its sponsored aiming at destabilizing Mozambique with cartels who go destabilizing African countries so that they extract minerals without paying anything”. He said.
On 24th March 2021 many people were killed when the Mozambique coastal city of Palma was overrun by militants although the Mozambique military managed to take the city back, the destruction and terror left behind were evident with increased fear of militants coming back.
At the beginning of the conflict, nearly 670000 people who included 160000 women and adolescent girls, as well as 19000 pregnant women, were displaced in Cabo Delgado, Niassa, and Nampula provinces who the majority of them relied on host families with scarce resources according to UN and much help was needed as fighting continues.
According to a UN spokesperson, nearly 12800 people, 43% of whom are children arrived in districts of Nangedi, Mueda, Montepuez, and Pemba since the violence started.
According to some reports, about 500000 people in the province have received humanitarian assistance mostly in the province of Cabo Delgado from many different humanitarian partners but they are becoming overstretched because apart from the conflict, Mozambique experienced multiple climates emergencies.
I think saving African lives in the future requires new thinking and unseen determination in many decades.
I expect African countries to come together in times of external challenges which destabilize the internal security and stability of any region or country on the African continent.
Because it’s so sad to hear that more than 1000 people were being prevented from crossing the border into Tanzania to seek asylum at a time when neighboring countries should not only welcome people running away from violence in order to save their lives but also to provide necessary assistance to the government of Mozambique so that security and stability are established as soon as possible.
Those people running for their lives are our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters who are only seeking help because they have been unfortunate due to ongoing fighting in their area for control of available resources by external forces so we should not see or treat them as a problem but welcome them and offer them our full support.
As Julius Malema said, we need a long-term solution not only to the situation in Mozambique but also to many problems and conflicts elsewhere happening on the continent due to various factors including politics but mostly natural resources.
I expect every African country in the future which be able to respond to any crisis happening on the continent without waiting to hear from what the UN has to say because saving people’s lives should be our first priority and that comes after establishing security and stability in any region or country and also African rapid response team must be established including military force backed up by civilian teams from all over around the continent.
Politicians and other leaders on the continent should start encouraging and preparing their civilian population to have a helping heart through education and coming together when a crisis in any region or country happens on the continent.
Youth organizations should be established in different educational institutions in every country to help quickly mobilize in times of crisis and also patriotism should not only be taught but encouraged so that young people understand the history of Africa and regain confidence in protecting their motherland from any external forces.