President Ramaphosa and three ministers to attend SADC meeting on Mozambique terror attacks

• President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to attend a SADC Extraordinary Double Troika Summit of Heads of State and Government in Maputo on Thursday.
• He will be accompanied by ministers Naledi Pandor, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Ayanda Dlodlo.
• Six heads of state are set to attend the meeting, which is expected to be chaired by Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to attend a crucial regional meeting on the conflict situation in northern Mozambique, following renewed attacks which saw a South African contractor killed.

Ramaphosa's spokesperson Tyrone Seale said in a statement that the president would attend a SADC Extraordinary Double Troika Summit of Heads of State and Government in Maputo on Thursday. 

He is to be accompanied by International Relations and Cooperations Minister Naledi Pandor, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo.

Echoing the SADC statement from the day before, Seale said the summit "will deliberate on measures to address terrorism in the Republic of Mozambique".

He added: 

The summit was convened by Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi in his capacity as chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

Ramaphosa is attending as the incoming chair of this body, while Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to attend because he is the previous chairperson.

READ | SA expected to urge Mozambique to accept intervention to counter insurgency at SADC summit

Six heads of state are set to attend the meeting, which is expected to be chaired by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, the current SADC chairperson. Former SADC chair, Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and the incoming chair, Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera, would also be attending. 

"As the regional policy-making institution, SADC is managed on a troika system that comprises the current SADC chairperson, the incoming chairperson and the immediate previous or outgoing chairperson," Seale said. 

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