Maputo — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended to the end of this year the operation of the South African armed forces (SANDF), in the fight against islamist terrorism in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

South Africa provided the largest continent to SAMIM (the SADC Military Mission in Mozambique). SAMIM is now winding down, and the last SAMIM troops should leave Mozambique by July.

The first contingent to leave was that from Botswana in early April, followed by a group of SANDF soldiers.

But it now seems that the rest of the South African contingent will remain in Mozambique for another eight months.

Ramaphosa sent a letter to the South African parliament, stating that this extension seeks to comply with South Africa's obligations to SADC, in fighting against terrorism in the region.

The other contingents in SAMIM are from Lesotho, Angola, Malawi, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Outside of SAMIM, a contingent from Rwanda is assisting the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) in resisting the attacks by the jihadists of ASWJ (Ansar al-Sunna Wa Jamma), also known as ISIS-Mozambique